Pep Guardiola confirms stance on Ilkay Gundogan contract talks after Barcelona agent meeting
By Tom Gott
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that midfielder Ilkay Gundogan is free to decide his own future as he approaches the end of his current contract.
Gundogan's deal expires this summer and there have yet to be any signs of a renewal, with the likes of Bayern Munich and, more recently, Barcelona strongly linked as potential suitors for the Germany international.
Despite concerns over his future, Gundogan remains City's captain and is a core part of Guardiola's lineup every week, and the boss could not hide his admiration for the 32-year-old.
"I think I know my opinion about Ilkay. What Ilkay has done against Aston Villa last season [scoring two late goals to seal the Premier League title] he can do whatever he wants," Guardiola said. "He has the paradise already. So he knows exactly my opinion about him.
"The club knows it and it is a question for him and his agent. What is going to happen I’m pretty sure is going to be good for him.
"Really we want how he is behaving, how he has behaved all his life in Manchester but what is going to happen? This kind of things belongs to the club and the player."
On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss the Premier League's managerial merry-go-round with the latest on the situations at Leeds United and Southampton. Also on the agenda, Man Utd contract talks, Mason Mount's future, Andrey Santos & more!
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
Links to Barcelona were amplified in recent days when Gundogan's agent was spotted meeting Blaugrana director Jordi Cruyff, but director of football Mateu Alemany has confirmed the true intentions of the meeting were far less dramatic.
“My obligation is to know that Gundogan is free, and we have met with his uncle, who is also [Andreas] Christensen’s agent," Alemany told Sport.
"We talked about Christensen, his performance and how happy we are with the player. He has been a very good signing, but there was nothing else.”