Pep Guardiola hopes Ilkay Gundogan will stay on board at Manchester City this summer. But also knows that Barcelona has wide-ranging interest. The manager of treble winner City also addressed statements by Xavi Hernández about João Cancelo around a golf tournament in Spain.
Guardiola discusses Gündogan’s future and contradicts Xavi’s words
Gundogan (32) is officially transfer-free after June 30, but according to Guardiola, talks are still underway about a new contract. The City captain has been under contract with The Citizens since the summer of 2016. In the past season, he scored eleven goals and seven assists in 51 official games.
During a golf tournament, including Andriy Shevchenko and Ruud Gullit, Guardiola was asked about the developments around Gundogan. “I know Barca are very interested, but so are we. I hope Ilkay stays with us. If he does go to Barcelona, he will be a really great asset to them. Xavi has called him many times,” said the coach of City in conversation with Spanish media.
Gündogan announced on Monday at a press conference towards Germany’s friendly match against Colombia that a return to Borussia Dortmund is in any case out of the question. The former Dortmund player indicated that technical director (and former teammate) Sebastian Kehl has contacted his management.
Cancelo
Guardiola was also confronted by previous statements from Xavi that City defender Cancelo, who is no longer in the Spaniard’s plans, was not allowed to join Barcelona on loan in January. The Portuguese temporarily moved to Bayern Munich. He revealed, “I think Xavi was not well informed about that. Cancelo could, so to speak, also go to Manchester United if he wanted to. But he chose Bayern. We have not received any offer from Barca at all.”
Barcelona brings talent for B team with a buyout clause of four hundred million
Barcelona has strengthened itself with Mikayil Faye. The Senegalese central defender comes over from the Croatian NK Kustosija Zagreb and will join the B-team of Barcelona.
With that, Faye completes a dream transfer and is rewarded for his rocket-like development over the past year. At the beginning of this calendar year, the eighteen-year-old defender still played for Diambars FC in his home country Senegal. In February he was scouted by modest Kustosija, playing in Croatia’s second tier and now suddenly making the move to Barcelona.
Faye played thirteen league games for Kustosija, in which he was accurate once. In Barcelona he signs a contract until the summer of 2027 he has a buyout clause of four hundred million euros in his contract. “Faye is a left-footed central defender, physically strong, fast, with good footballing ability,” Barcelona writes on the club’s website.
