İlkay Gündoğan is back to Manchester City from his extended holiday at Barcelona and the former German international is ecstatic to be back at the club he previously spent seven seasons at.
Gündoğan left Etihad at the peak of his powers to pursue a lifelong dream of playing for the Catalonian giants and would have stayed for longer if they had their finances together. The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder chose the classy option of helping the club of his dreams by leaving, to return to a club that was his home for seven years and were willing to welcome him back.
It was a great reception as he made his second debut at the Etihad where they piled pressure on Arsenal once again by thrashing newly-promoted side Ipswich Town by four goals to one. Gündoğan enjoyed an emotional return and after the match, spoke about his excitement over the fact that he gets to play for the defending champions of the English football top flight once again.
“Yesterday, I trained for the first time with the boys and it honestly feels like I’ve never been away and it feels like home. It’s such a joy,” he said. “I have so much happiness to play again for this amazing club in front of this amazing crowd with these amazing players. I feel very privileged.
“It’s also emotions. I got a lot of feedback over the last two days, a lot of people messaging me. 99% of them were honestly so positive and emotional. I kind of expected that with a good result today that it would be an amazing day. Luckily it turned out like that.
“I could not have wished for a better start. I’m very proud to be back and to be with the people here with all these memories. Hopefully we can try to make better and new memories for the future.”
Gündoğan, who made 51 appearances in all competitions for Barcelona last season and made 19 goal contributions (five goals and 14 assists), was brought on for the last 20 minutes of the City vs Ipswich game, which was his 305th official appearance for Man City. He spoke about working with Pep Guardiola again and gave an insight into the changes in the team since he left them.
“Pep is so demanding. This is exactly what I love and enjoy. Because every year, I feel personally I have to reach my limits and get challenged. That’s one quality that is incredible in him,” Gündoğan said.
“I had a short meeting with him, he showed me a few sequences of play, because since I left he tried to adapt a few details. Hopefully I will get them as quick as possible. I feel very confident and then we will see in what kind of role I will be able to contribute. I’m ready to go and ready to be challenged.”
