Ilkay Gündogan's return to Manchester City is imminent. The German midfielder went to the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper this Wednesday to say goodbye to his now former teammates before heading to England and confirming his return to the 'cityzen' team after a season at FC Barcelona. The player landed at the airport of the Mancunian city around 7:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. English time) on a private flight and the official announcement of his signing for Pep Guardiola's team will come in a matter of hours.
The Barça entity shared some images of the training carried out on August 21 and in none of them could we see the presence of a 'Gündo' who will sign, a priori, for one season plus another optional season with the 'skyblue' team. The German went to the Blaugrana facilities to collect his belongings and say a final goodbye to the Barcelona players. For his part, Vitor Roque was not present at this Wednesday's session either, since his departure to Betis is also 'falling'.
Once he left Sant Joan Despí, Gündogan went through the private flights terminal at El Prat Airport to travel to Manchester and finalize the details of his return to the British team, as reported by 'Mundo Deportivo'. The departure of the midfielder will allow Barça to get rid of one of the highest signings in the squad in order to be able to take charge of the pending registrations and try to close some more signings to reinforce Hansi Flick's squad.
Gündogan's last gesture
Thus, Ilkay will once again be under the command of Guardiola, with whom he won the 2023 Champions League, after a season at the Catalan club, where he recorded 5 goals and 14 assists in 51 games. The German leaves Barcelona, forgiving the two-year contract that tied him to the institution.He will not charge anything for this season and the next, which was optional but which he had already secured by having played 60% of the games in his first year, thus helping the institution's economy.