He said farewell to Man City
Gundogan and Pep Guardiola
New Barcelona signing Ilkay Gundogan has bid farewell to Manchester City with great affection, assuring that he will be a fan of the club for life.
“I will always carry City in my heart,” he told the English club’s media, with whom he has won everything this season as captain, including the Premier League and Champions League.
“This club has made me fulfil all my dreams and I will always be grateful for this opportunity,” said Gundogan, who insisted that for him “it has been a privilege and a total pleasure to be part of Manchester City for the last seven years” and that he has “felt part of a very special family”.
“I have been lucky to have experienced so many unforgettable moments in my time here and to have been captain in this very special season has been the best experience of my career,” added the German, who joined City in July 2016 from Borussia Dortmund and has won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, two Community Shields and the Champions League.
Praise for Guardiola
In his farewell speech he also had words of thanks for his coach Pep Guardiola. In fact, he was his first signing when he arrived at the club.
“To have been able to play and learn from him for so long was something I will never forget,” he said of his coach.
In the Players’ Tribune, Gundogan recounted one of Pep’s dreams: “He once told me, ‘I wish that I could play with 11 midfielders. You guys can all see the game five steps ahead.’
“One of the hardest calls I had to make was to Pep, telling him that I was going to leave. All I could do was to say thank you. Not just for this season, or for all the trophies, but for bringing me here in the first place. I will never forget when I hurt my knee at the end of the season with Dortmund and I had to get surgery, I was so worried that City would pull out of the deal for me. But Pep called me on the phone and said, ‘Don’t worry, it doesn’t change anything. We want you here. We will wait for you no matter how long it takes’.”
“I would also like to thank all my teammates, past and present, who have played such a special role in making my time here so incredible. Finally, I would like to thank the incredible City fans. They have supported me from the moment I arrived, and I owe them all so much for their support,” he told the club’s website.
City’s Zidane
“When I had to break the news to the boys that I was leaving in our group chat, I was very emotional. I will miss all of them, honestly,” he told the Players’ Tribune.
He also mentions the nickname he had at City. “I guess because I tend to be such a simple player, the boys found it very funny to call me ‘Zidane’ when I showed a bit of technique. Whenever I had a good session, Ruben Dias would call me ‘Zidane’. And I’d say: “No, no, today I was Pirlo. Tomorrow I’ll go back to Zizou,” he said.
He also spoke about Erling Haaland: “Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect when he came here. You see the goals and all the attention that he was getting at Dortmund, and you wonder if he’s going to fit with the group. But when I got to know him, I was so surprised how someone could be that talented and still have the will to be even better every single day. He’s never satisfied. I feel like there are no limits for him. Messi and Ronaldo are the only comparison for the level he could reach.”
Barcelona or nothing
He then hailed his new club, Barcelona, which he described as a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“If I was going to move, there is only one club in the world that made sense. It was Barcelona or nothing. Ever since I was a little kid, I dreamed of wearing that shirt some day. I am confident that I have a few more years left at the highest level, and I just want to help bring Barcelona back to where they deserve to be. It will be a reunion with my old friend Lewa, and I’m excited to play under another manager who I have admired for a long time. When Xavi and I talked about the project, it just seemed so natural. I see so many similarities between us as characters and in the way we see the game.”