I Could’ve Stayed If City Offered Me An Extension Quicker – Gundogan

Ex Manchester City midfielder, IIkay Gundogan has come out to admit that he could’ve stayed in the EPL if the club had started contract negotiations earlier. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, MCFC waited a relatively long time for the talks to really get more intense, and he just could not stick around anymore.

Gundogan added that it was his childhood dream to play for Barcelona, and he is happy to be living that dream.

His words, “In the end, it wasn’t about a year or two. It didn’t hit the runtime. City waited a relatively long time for the talks to really get more intense. If that had happened a little earlier, the starting position would have been different.”

“So in the end it was the perfect ending, there couldn’t have been a better time. It was also my childhood dream to play for FC Barcelona.”

WOW.

İlkay Gündoğan is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and the Germany national team.

Gündoğan was born in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia to Turkish parents. His grandfather on his father’s side was a guest worker who moved from Balıkesir, Turkey, to the Ruhr region of Germany to work as a miner. Meanwhile, his wife stayed in Turkey with their children where they grew up and went to school.

Having grown up in Gelsenkirchen, Gündoğan’s boyhood affiliaton was with Schalke 04, with which he had a brief spell as an eight-year old before being forced to take a break from the sport altogether because of growth problems. He subsequently confessed that this was one of the worst disappointments in his life, one which led him to reject Schalke when the club offered to sign him up again when he was 13-years old, fearing he would be somehow disappointed again.

Gündoğan married Sara Arfaoui in 2022 and they have one child. Gündoğan’s cousin Naz Aydemir is a volleyball player.