Impressive Ilkay shows why he is a Blue leader
IT feels like a lifetime ago now but there was a stage when City’s transfer window was tinged with a hint of peril.
In May, before last season had even concluded, Ilkay Gundogan was being heavily linked with a move away.
In the final, pivotal weeks of the season, speculation was growing stronger.
Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Arsenal and, of course, Barcelona were all linked with the German and with only a year remaining on his contract, the possibility of a departure looked worryingly high.
Gundogan was spotted at a private jet terminal in May which sparked a flurry of speculation. He was flying off to get married, but the anxiety caused showed how real the threat of his departure was perceived.
The timing of the reports was said to have infuriated his agent, but the player remained level-headed, saying nothing would be resolved until the end of the season.
Then, on the final day of the campaign, his introduction and remarkable brace steered City away from a last-gasp disaster to claim the Premier League title ahead of Liverpool.
It was the sort of game-changing display that justified all the concern surrounding his future.
With a year remaining on his contract and a decent fee on the table, selling the midfielder may have made a degree of sense from a Blues perspective.
Instead of forcing through a move, Gundogan committed to staying for the final year of his contract and would hold talks over an extension.
Keeping him has already proven to be far more beneficial in just the first two games of the season.
With Bernardo Silva’s future uncertain, Gundogan has been handed a starting berth in both matches so far in the Premier League and he has well and truly earned his spot.
Against West Ham, it was his intelligent and composed display in the middle that helped the Blues completely control a game they usually have a bit of bother in.
He also played a delightful throughball for Erling Haaland to win a penalty.
A few months on since he scored the last goal of the season at the Etihad, he bagged the first of the new season when Haaland turned provider against Bournemouth
They played a brilliant one-two as Gundogan exploited the space, as he so often does, before turning the ball in.
It’s that ability of a ‘second runner’ – the best in the club according to Pep Guardiola – which makes him such a brilliant asset, alongside his elegance on
the ball, intricate passing and now his leadership and experience.
With Fernandinho’s departure City lost a significant presence in the changing room but Gundogan looks to already be filling the hole. Losing him this summer as well as the Brazilian midfielder would have been a heavy blow.
As Kevin de Bruyne said after the game: “I’ve been playing for six years with him at City and he has been incredible in that period of time.”
Gundogan is now getting what he wanted to extend his time with the club even further with a new contract – playing time – so it surely won’t be long before City make a move to do just that.
The Blues’ transfer window was already excellent with the arrivals of Haaland, Kalvin Phillips, Julian Alvarez, Stefan Ortega and the incoming Sergio Gomez, as well as the money raised from the sales of Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko. But keeping hold of Gundogan has made it even better.