‘Benefitted from the doubts’ – Player left cold by Manchester City treatment, so went elsewhere

Ilkay Gundogan was left cold by his treatment from Manchester City this summer, hence his decision to sign for Barcelona instead.

That’s according to Sport, who say the Catalans ‘benefitted from the doubts’ and made their move to sign the German on a free transfer.

The newspaper explains that the Manchester City captain ‘did not feel real interest’ from the club when it came to renewing his contract at the Etihad, which expired in the summer.

Before the World Cup there had been no rush at Manchester City to extend his contract, with the club conveying to the midfielder and his agents that they would want a deal for another year.

He wanted at least two years and went to Qatar somewhat concerned about his future. He wanted to continue at City, but they weren’t that keen on a long-term deal, indeed those in charge believe he was not a long way from ‘running out of batteries’.

That is why they considered a one year deal the best solution and that impasse lasted several months, something Barcelona ‘took advantage’ of.

They intensified their interest in him, continuing to work on a deal as Gundogan shone in the second half of the season and played a key role for Manchester City once again.

They maintained they would only offer a one-year deal and that left Gundogan ‘somewhat upset’ by the low priority he had been given, even if a two-year offer was eventually made.

That forced Barcelona to improve their offer, financially and in terms of years but their effort went down well with Gundogan, who had been left somewhat cold by his treatment from City and decided to move to the Camp Nou as a result.