Gundogan was Guardiola’s first signing for Manchester City; should the manager leave when his contract expires next summer, he may prove his last, as well. But even then, their alliance could be renewed. They were separated for a year when Gundogan joined Barcelona. Perhaps it gave Guardiola a mole in the Catalan camp. Certainly each had a sounding board. And it meant that, when Gundogan mooted the idea of the summer’s most sensational comeback, he was confident of the answer.
“We were in touch throughout last year,” Gundogan said. “We had more than a couple of phone calls. I went to his childhood club and he’s still a big fan of FC Barcelona, he doesn’t make a secret out of it because he’s from there and it’s the club he loves. He rang me up a couple of times, I rang him, we spoke a little bit so the contact was never really gone. So when you have such a good relationship, you can be honest and direct and this is exactly what I said to him. And when I put it out there, the idea, he loved it, and he said, ‘let’s try to do it’. From there, everything happened very quickly.”
Denne historien er fra August 27, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
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Denne historien er fra August 27, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
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