Barcelona’s star signing this summer is none other than Ilkay Gundogan, and the prospect of him linking up with their talented young core will have many a Culer salivating. It seems that is not far from the truth for the German himself.
The former Manchester City man has joined up with his teammates and spent several days training with them, although that was rudely interrupted by a virus that spread through the squad, causing their tie against Juventus to be cancelled.
Speaking two ahead of their new preseason debut against Arsenal, Gundogan was asked to definte himself as a player by MD.
“I would say that a key word to define my game is ‘adaptation’. I think I’m a very flexible player, I can play different positions, different roles, I’ve done it in the past, also at Manchester City, where I played the role of a midfielder, a double pivot, a ’10’, I even played as a ‘false nine’… honestly, I think I can play in several positions and the coach appreciates that about me. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that the team succeeds.”
🚨 Ilkay Gündogan: "I'm here to win, to win La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. I had a great season with City, but I want to keep winning over and over again." @sport pic.twitter.com/s4GFPTJQFR
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) July 24, 2023
Gundogan then went to reveal the player he was most looking forward to linking up with on the pitch.
“I already knew most of them [the Barcelona team], from watching them play and also from playing against them, either in club or national team competition.”
“There was a player with whom I was eager to play and it is Pedri. I think he is a great talent, he is so young and at the same time so good, he has so much potential… Of course, we play in similar positions and we will probably play a lot of games close to each other. We will try to find each other a lot.”
Equally, Gundogan declared himself an admirer of Frenkie de Jong.
“Something similar with Frenkie de Jong. As a midfielder, you appreciate these types of players being close to you on the pitch, players to pass the ball to, mix and match and create actions and combo.”
The onus is now on manager Xavi Hernandez to find a system which gets the best out of them all. Gundogan comes into a midfield that has seen Sergio Busquets depart, but to replace Busquets directly would require either Oriol Romeu to come into the side, or one of Gundogan, de Jong, Gavi or Pedri to play in a role that doesn’t best suit them. If Romeu does win a place in the side, one of those four will likely be on the bench.
