Ilkay Gundogan: Barcelona agree deal to sign Man City midfielder on free transfer
Man City captain Ilkay Gundogan led the club to a historic Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble last season. The German international is now set to join Barcelona on a free transfer after failing to agree a new contract at Etihad
Barcelona have reached an agreement to sign Ilkay Gundogan from Manchester City on a free transfer, with the midfielder set to sign a three-year contract.
The move has not been officially announced by either party, but City have taken a pragmatic approach, as they have in similar situations in recent years, due to the player’s age and length of contract that the 32-year-old was aiming.
Gündogan negotiated a new contract with City, whose contract was due to expire at the end of June.
A sticking point, however, was the length of the 32-year-old’s contract – one year plus an option for a further 12 months. Arsenal were also interested in Gundogan. The influential former Borussia Dortmund midfielder won five Premier Leagues, two FA Cups, four League Cups and the Champions League in his seven years at City.
Gundogan won three trophies in the 2022-23 season as City became just the second English team to win the treble.
It comes as Man City have agreed a £30m deal to sign Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic, which would go some way to offsetting the loss of Gundogan.
The fee is initially expected to be worth £25m plus £5m in performance-related add-ons. A formal announcement is expected shortly that Kovacic will join last season’s three winners. In the back pages of Sports News, John Cross reflects on Ilkay Gundogan’s planned free transfer from Man City to Barcelona and how good the German has been in the 2022/2023 season.
Kovacic has been at Chelsea since leaving Real Madrid – initially on loan – in the summer of 2018.
The Croatia international won four major trophies during his time at Chelsea – including his fourth Champions League in 2021 – and went on to make 221 appearances for the club.
