Ilkay Gundogan was only 19 when he was signed by Borussia Dortmund.
The German midfielder met the press for the first time, last weekend, since becoming a Manchester City player.
Gundogan was Pep Guardiola’s first acquisition as City boss and will hope to take the Premier League by storm with his bustling, slaloming style of play.
It looked, for all money, that Gundogan would be signed by Manchester United last season – there were even reports of a medical – but he remained in Germany and turned out 36 times for his club. A £25m move was off the table.
“Maybe last year it [a United move] was close but not everything happened like I wanted it to,” he told Sport 360.
Once he knew he would be staying with Dortmund, Gundogan opted not to see out the final year of his contract and leave on a free transfer. Such a decision would have netted him a large signing on bonus, with City, but he felt he owed the club more than that.
The club stood by him throughout a tough 2013/14 season when a serious knee injury ruled him out of all but one game. Gundogan repaid Dortmund’s faith my signing a contract extension ahead of last season. It meant Manchester City would eventually pay £20m for his services. He said:
“We had the conversation with Dortmund and agreed that if I left, I will not leave for free, for zero. So I renewed my contract and now this year everyone is lucky and happy how it came to an end.”
City are, no doubt, happy to get their man but they could have got him for a whole lot less if Gundogan was only thinking of himself.
