MANCHESTER CITY are expected to resign Ilkay Gundogan in what would be one of the most surprising transfers of the summer.
The 33-year-old departed the Etihad at the end of the treble-winning 2022/23 season and promptly joined Barcelona but just over a year later he’s set to return to the Premier League and, more importantly, the world of Dream Team.
The La Liga giants’ well-documented financial issues have reportedly prevented them from registering new signing Dani Olmo and so Gundogan, one of the highest earners at the club, is being ushered out in an attempt to balance the books.
This news has generally been greeted with glee among Man City fans, who still hold fond memories of the German midfielder’s clutch performances in sky blue.
Pep Guardiola could do with another quality midfielder and who better than one of Europe’s most-intelligent footballers, one who is already familiar with City’s sophisticated tactics?
From a Dream Team perspective, the anticipated transfer presents gaffers with yet another tempting option.
Gundogan was a widely-selected and successful asset throughout the second half of his first spell, when he became a more regular goalscorer.
Having scored 22 goals across his first four seasons at City, he bagged 38 across his last three, including several decisive strikes in big games.
Whether Gundogan will return as an advanced, box-crashing goal threat remains to be seen.
He may well be deployed in a deeper midfield role, as a tempo-setter, which would likely yield fewer Dream Team points.
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The broader view is that Gundogan is a class act with a history of providing healthy returns who is set to rejoin the team that have provided the most points collectively in recent years.
If/when the transfer is confirmed, Gundogan will be added to Dream Team at £4m.
For comparison, that puts him level with Jeremy Doku (£4m), slightly more expensive than Jack Grealish (£3.5m) and Savinho (£3.5m) but a fraction cheaper than Rodri (£4.5m) and Bernardo Silva (£4.5m).
Tempting, tempting…
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
