There is no such thing as the perfect footballer, the flawless sportsman. Everybody has a weakness somewhere. Don’t they?
It is a concept that has preoccupied Ilkay Gundogan for years. It accompanied him to Barcelona when he left Manchester City – seemingly for good – in the summer of 2023 and – now that he has returned – it has followed him back again.
He is a father now to an 18-month-old boy and there is another on the way. So life, and indeed some perspectives, has changed.
But fundamentally, City’s everyman – the little German who lives in the centre of Manchester in a flat next door to his manager – remains unchanged from the son of migrant parents who used to take his football to bed with him in the family apartment in Gelsenkirchen and dream a footballer’s fantastical dreams.
‘Perfection… well I just think it’s important to target it and I do,’ Gundogan says. ‘Believe it or not, even in training sessions I still get nervous.
Manchester City star Ilkay Gundogan sat down for an exclusive interview with Mail Sport
The German international spoke with Ian Ladyman about his shock return to the champions
Gundogan, 33, also reflected on the upcoming clash between City and title rivals Arsenal
‘If we play a Rondo or a box game – five versus two or six versus two – I don’t want to make any mistakes you know? I don’t want to misplace a pass. And I am nervous about that.
‘I carry this tension. I don’t know why if I am honest with you. But I just think it’s important for me and the way I want to perform.
‘It keeps me awake and on my front foot. It helps me get to a certain level and stay there. Maybe that’s another reason why I can play with these great players.’
In a modern world of footballing bulk and brawn – an environment of extreme, imposing and often flamboyant athleticism – Gundogan is a bit of a throwback.
On a bright Manchester afternoon, he arrives for this interview dressed in a simple blue polo shirt and black trousers and shoes. Eighteen months ago, his team-mate Jack Grealish walked in this same room in a rainbow-coloured Gucci tracksuit. No judgement.
Briefly we discuss socks. Mine are bright and his are not. ‘I always prefer black,’ he smiles. ‘Or maybe sometimes white’.
Now 33, however, he remains one of the fundamental figures from Pep Guardiola’s years of plunder in Manchester. Guardiola’s first signing at the club back in 2016, Gundogan was the captain of the treble winning team of 2023, scorer of two goals that turned disaster in to triumph on the final day against Aston Villa a year earlier and also struck the fastest FA Cup final goal of all time, against Manchester United of all people, less than a month before he left.
Gundogan was Pep Guardiola’s first signing and helped achieve history with the club – such as scoring the fastest FA Cup final goal in history during their 2-1 victory over rivals Man United
Less than a month after his FA Cup heroics, he opted to leave City in order to join Barcelona
Gundogan once said he was ‘not special’ as a footballer. Have five Premier Leagues, six domestic cups and one treble not served to change his mind on that?
‘No, not at all,’ he says. ‘I mean these are great titles but when you play for such an institution and club like Man City, I think its unavoidable to win trophies.
‘It comes with it. Of course I take these achievements. And it’s nice to have trophies at home and to watch it on TV but still I don’t feel I am that special.
‘I feel I fit in quite nicely to that team, that I contribute but I never take myself too important or too seriously. I try to be normal, to be a good guy, to be humble. Just enjoy the moments and memories that I make with my team-mates.’
In a world of fantasy, then, what one quality would he take from another player?
‘Speed,’ he says without pause. ‘I need speed. I think pace would help me. But then I am playing in the middle so it’s more important to be quick in the mind than maybe running quick.
‘Obviously in modern football, pure talent is all about speed and agility. The best players in the world have it and I don’t. But I don’t miss it so much, you know.
‘Maybe I wouldn’t be the same player in other ways if I was quicker. So I am quite happy and comfortable with the way I am.’
Gundogan once said he was ‘not special’ as a footballer – despite his five Premier League titles
Returning to City
Gundogan is the player who left and then came back and sometimes that’s not as easy as it looks.
A year at Barcelona was a dream fulfilled but did not bring him quite the happiness he had craved so, as he came to terms with an international retirement that followed Germany’s exit from Euro 2024 earlier this summer, he sat and pondered his options and then picked up the phone.
His return to City was initiated by him rather than the club. That is unusual and feels surprising.
‘When I was sure it would be amazing to come back, I spoke with Pep,’ he reveals. ‘I called him and asked him if he could imagine it. Not out of nothing. I had thought about it. it was something I personally wanted to do and I didn’t have much to lose, you know?
‘I was a bit nervous beforehand but it was a nice call. Obviously my relationship with Pep was always good. Even though I was in Barcelona last year we had a few phone calls between each other. We actually also met there once.
‘There is no reason to hide that we have a good connection but at the end you never know how people will react or what they think about certain situations.
‘So when I mentioned it and I got a great response, I was relieved. It was something that maybe I didn’t quite expect in that moment. He said had it been up to him it would have been done tomorrow.’
A year at Barcelona was a dream fulfilled but did not bring him the happiness he had craved
Gundogan’s close relationship with Pep Guardiola (left) opened the door for his return to City
News of Gundogan’s return was greeted in the blue corners of Manchester rather manically. Coming at the end of a transfer window that hitherto had been rather quiet, his homecoming felt a little like a gift. Even Noel Gallagher got in touch.
‘Come home, brother,’ read the WhatsApp from the Oasis guitarist.
It has been said Gundogan subsequently played a role in Gallagher’s reunion with brother Liam. Oasis will go out on tour next year.
‘No I am quite sure that wasn’t me,’ Gundogan laughs. ‘Maybe that one will follow me around but there are worse stories to have so I am OK with it.
‘Noel did send me a nice message actually, a really nice one when I left last year. And yeah, he also he did when I came back so it was good.
‘I haven’t got any tickets for the concerts yet, by the way, so please don’t ask me….’
Gundogan is a little sensitive about how his time in Barcelona is portrayed. It was not an easy year and he returned to Manchester without winning anything. He is firm about how he would like it to be viewed.
The Gallagher brothers have supported City through thick and thin and Noel is regularly seen among travelling supporters for away games (pictured at Nottingham Forest vs City in April)
Liam is also vocal in his support, although he perhaps has a lower profile than brother Noel
‘You know, I think I had a successful time over there,’ he says. ‘I mean apart from anything, I played for one of the biggest teams in the world. I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams, playing for Barca and wearing that badge.
‘Maybe people will look at last season and think we didn’t win anything. That’s true. But if you look at how we performed we had 85 points at the end of the season, only three less than the previous year when they won the league.
‘We were playing against a really difficult Real Madrid side. I feel very privileged to have played for Barcelona. In other circumstances maybe things would have turned out differently.
‘It was a tough but also great experience. So no regrets at all.’
Back at City, Gundogan’s immediate challenge is to break back into Guardiola’s team. All but one of his appearances have come from the substitutes’ bench thus far. They had kept his old seat in the canteen for him but everything else has had to be earned all over again.
‘You can say it’s easy because I am coming to an environment I know so well,’ he says.
‘The people, the project, the way of playing. Pep is still the conductor of the orchestra, the guy who is managing everything and chasing us. The same.
Despite spending just a year in Spain, Gundogan looks back on his time there as a success
The German was welcomed back with open arms by supporters at the Etihad stadium
‘On the other hand, I left, you know? And you know how it is when you leave and come back. Don’t be surprised if things are different, the dynamics are different.
‘You have to readapt and maybe find your role. Things change, time has passed by. You have to fit in again.
‘Football is not about individuals and yourself, it’s about the group. Obviously that’s a challenge. It’s not like you come and sit back and enjoy what you have done in the past.
‘You want to prove yourself again.’
And for Gundogan that means a return to old principles, the ones that have kept him moving all these years.
He once said that a ‘pass played to a team-mate but to his weaker foot is not a good pass’ and it’s with this that we return to the subject of the ‘Rondo’ – the much-loved training game where two players stand in the middle of a circle of five or six and try to intercept passes made from one side to the other. If you fail to control a pass on the outside, it’s your turn in the middle. Chasing, chasing…
Upon returning to City, the German admitted he had to readapt in order to fit in again
‘The Rondo here is usually the same players, the same partners, and it’s about honesty and accountability and responsibility,’ he explains.
‘If I play the Rondo and I don’t give my team-mate a good pass and he can’t do much with it and he loses the ball then it’s not his mistake, it’s mine. So I will go in [the middle] instead of him.
‘It’s about being honest with your team-mate and saying: “Look my pass was not good and this mistake started with me so I will go in”. I just feel that honesty will always be rewarded.
‘It will make your team-mates respect you much more. It doesn’t matter whether you are 18 or 35. Also it will help that player for the future. It will help the young player for his education and he will look at me and think that I am taking the accountability.
‘It’s like teaching the younger ones that you must take responsibility for your actions. The more people like that you have on your team, the more chance you will have of being successful.’
‘Teaching the younger ones that you must take responsibility for your actions’ remains an important aspect to training for Gundogan
Looking ahead to Arsenal showdown
Football rivalries can play to different shapes but for Gundogan they tend to come dressed in familiar clothes.
For five years in the Premier League, Gundogan’s every sporting move seemed to be shadowed by Jurgen Klopp, his manager during formative years at Borussia Dortmund.
Now, as he eases in to his second spell at City, it is Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, once an assistant to Guardiola at the Etihad, who present the challenge.
City edged Arsenal out by two points last season to win a fourth consecutive league title but failed to win either game with their rivals, drawing at home and losing in London.
On Sunday, they meet in Manchester for the first time this season.
‘It’s a bit different to the Liverpool rivalry,’ says Gundogan. ‘Because of the way the teams play. Arsenal are much more similar to how we play than Klopp’s Liverpool ever were.
The German is preparing to face Arsenal once again when they meet at the Etihad on Sunday
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta (left) worked as Guardiola’s assistant before taking over the Gunners
‘Mikel knows this club, the players, the manager very well. He worked with Pep and there is a huge influence with Pep on Mikel. It will also be the same with me if I coach. Pep will be a massive influence on how I want my teams to play.
‘It makes it different to Klopp’s Liverpool. It’s hard to say which is easier but with this new rivalry both clubs know each other really well and will be prepared for each other. Whoever does the small and important things better will be the best. It’s small margins.
‘With Klopp and Liverpool it was such a different game and more intense and there were difficult things that would have a big impact on the game.’
Gundogan has a little personal history with Arsenal. Of Turkish heritage and from a family of Galatasaray supporters, one of his earliest football memories is of sitting on the floor of the family apartment in 2000 watching his team beat Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal on penalties in the final of the UEFA Cup. He was nine years old.
‘It was a huge moment for us as a family and for me as a child obviously,’ he smiles.
‘For Turkey and Turkish football it was so important. We had fifteen or twenty people in the living room watching the game. There were people crying and hugging each other when the final penalty went in. It was (Gica) Popescu I think.
‘It was huge for me as a young kid, playing on the street and in a small local team, growing up and dreaming of maybe being a professional one day. And Galatasaray being my team as well. So yeah that was incredible.
Similarly to Arteta, Gundogan admits ‘Pep will be a massive influence on how I want my teams to play’ as he discusses a potential future in the dugout
Has he given though to finishing his career at the great Istanbul club?
‘Never say never,’ he says. ‘It would be something that would fill me with pride but at the end of the day you have to look at the circumstances at a certain time.
‘The reality is that I am here playing for the best club and the best football team in the world. I don’t think there is anything comparable to that right now.
‘But I have always followed the football since I was young, taking the football to bed with me as a young kid. Until the end of my life I don’t want to miss it.
‘There is a joy and a togetherness that comes from football. You get to spend time with amazing people. You are never alone in football.’
And with that Gundogan is up and out and away, off into Manchester city centre for an appointment at one of his favourite coffee shops on Deansgate.
‘I feel connected here,’ he smiles. ‘I have everything on my doorstep. Me and my wife and my little one. We like to have walks around the city, especially when it’s quiet. Have a coffee or a pastry.
Gundogan ended by declaring his connection with the city of Manchester and the people there
‘The people are very nice. We get treated with a lot of respect, people smiling at us. That’s why we feel so welcome and so comfortable and happy here.
‘It has become a second home. After Gelsenkirchen it’s the city where I have spent most time in my life.’
The neighbours haven’t moved on either. His manager still lives in the flat next door.
‘So far it’s good,’ laughs Gundogan. ‘Quiet as always. Comfortable as always. No issues.’
No loud music through the wall? Come on, turn it down Pep…
‘No it’s fine,’ he smiles. ‘We have a young child so maybe I need to be the one who doesn’t make so much noise…’