Free transfer 

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Ilkay Gündogan has completed his return to Manchester City. The 33-year-old only left the English Champions last summer for Barcelona but he only stayed in Spain for a year. Barcelona have well-documented financial issues and they reached an agreement with Gündogan to cancel his contract with Pep Guardiola offering him a one-year deal with an option for an extra season. On his return, Gündogan  said: “My seven years at Manchester City were a time of pure contentment for me, both on and off the pitch. Honestly, I cannot wait to wear the City shirt again.”

The main driving force behind Barcelona wanting to offload the playmaker is once again finances. The LaLiga giants are reportedly crippled by massive debt of over €1 billion. As a result, the club struggled to register new players again this summer. Among them RB Leipzig midfielder Dani Olmo, who was signed in a deal worth €55m plus €5 million in bonuses (all transfers at a glance). With that in mind, Barcelona are hoping to offload high earners like Gündogan this summer to make room for new signings to strengthen Hansi Flick’s side.

“The news that Man City are considering bringing their former captain Gündogan back to the club came as a bit of a shock,” UK content manager Ben Littlemore said. “After all, Guardiola has never re-signed a player to the same club (overview).” The move is also surprising from a Barcelona standpoint. After all, the central midfielder was a core player for the club last season, scoring five goals and nine assists in 36 LaLiga games. 

Why Man City have signed Gündogan

Gündogan, however, has always been productive, including in his final season for Man City, when he scored eight goals and five assists in 31 Premier League games and helped the club win the first-ever Champions League title. “Gündogan was such an important player to City throughout his time at the Etihad and played a key role in them wrestling the league title from Arsenal in the 2022/23 campaign,” Littlemore said. “He scored crucial braces against Leeds and Everton to secure the Premier League trophy.”

Indeed, Gündogan’s skills were missed last season. “The one area where City looked like they lacked some depth was probably in centre-midfield,” Littlemore said. “In the four games Rodri missed, Man City lost three. Kalvin Phillips wasn’t quite up to scratch, and Kovacic and Nunes failed to make a huge impact. It’s easy to see why his experience could help City win a fifth straight title, but I get the impression if Gündogan was to return, it may be with a future in coaching in mind. Guardiola has spoken before about the German’s intelligence and predicted a successful management career ahead for him. We could perhaps see one more season of Gundogan in City’s midfield before moving to the dugout beside Pep.”