After seven years at Manchester City, Ilkay Gündogan has joined Barcelona.
The Catalan club confirmed an agreement with Gündogan, who will sign a contract until 2025 with an option to extend his stay by a further year. The German’s buyout clause has been set at a monstrous €400m.
As reported by the Athletic, Gündogan will receive a salary of just over €9m after tax per season. A potential catalyst for the player’s departure was Manchester City offering just a one-year extension. But despite interest from Arsenal and talks with Borussia Dortmund’s Sebastian Kehl, Gündogan’s dream destination was Barcelona.
After Barcelona missed out on Lionel Messi, who joined MLS side Inter Miami, the club pushed to sign Gündogan as a priority.
Gündogan, born in Gelsenkirchen, has had an illustrious career. Making his professional debut at Nürnberg, he played 53 games across all competitions before moving back to North Rhine-Westphalia with Borussia Dortmund. It was at BVB where Gündogan became a Bundesliga champion in 2012, the same year they won the DFB Pokal before finishing runners-up to Bayern Munich in the 2013 Champions League final.
A move to Manchester City followed and across 304 games (60 goals, 40 assists), Gündogan won five Premier League titles and a Champions League.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
