Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk delivers an update on the future of Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who has been linked with a summer transfer to the Turkish giants.
Ilkay Gundogan is more likely to stay at Manchester City than join Galatasaray this summer, according to the Turkish club’s head coach Okan Buruk.
The 34-year-old, wo turns 35 in October, re-joined the Citizens on a free transfer from Barcelona last summer after a challenging year-long experience in Catalonia.
Gundogan has featured regularly under manager Pep Guardiola, with only Josko Gvardiol (55) having made more appearances for Man City across all tournaments than the experienced midfielder (54) since the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign.
Man City’s No.19 won 14 trophies during his first spell at the club – captaining the Citizens to a historic treble in 2022-23 and lifting their first ever Champions League title – but he was unable to reach the same heights last term.
Nevertheless, Gundogan’s experience and leadership is considered invaluable by Guardiola, and the midfielder is now under contract until June 2026 after an automatic one-year extension was recently triggered.
Gundogan tipped to stay at Man City despite Galatasaray interestSpeculation over his future on the blue side of Manchester continues to linger, though, as Guardiola aims to trim his first-team squad and Man City seek to comply with homegrown quota rules ahead of next season.
If City decide to sell Gundogan for a nominal fee this summer, Galatasaray are thought to be at the front of the queue to sign the Germany international, who was born in Gelsenkirchen but grew up with Turkish parents in a household full of Galatasaray supporters.
Galatasaray boss Buruk has previously claimed that a transfer for Gundogan to the reigning Super Lig champions “would make everyone happy” and “every team wants Gundogan”.
However, Buruk has now suggested that Gundogan is more likely to see out the final year of his contract at Man City.
“Ilkay Gundogan is a person with character,” Buruk told Sky Deutschland. “He has a contract with Manchester City for another year, and I think he will complete it there. We love Ilkay very much, we know he has a great love for Galatasaray.”
Gundogan among several midfield options for GuardiolaGuardiola’s reliance on Gundogan last season was largely due to the fact that Man City were working out a way to play without injured lynchpin Rodri for the majority of the campaign, with Gundogan tasked to operate slightly deeper as opposed to making regular runs into the final third where he has previously thrived.
Not only has Rodri returned to fitness, but Gundogan is now completing for places in midfield with January addition Nico Gonzalez and summer signing Tijjani Reijnders, who has been described as ‘a young Gundogan’.
Fellow new recruit Rayan Cherki, new captain Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly are also central options available to Guardiola, and should Man City’s new-look midfield make positive progress in the new season, Gundogan could eventually evolve into a rotational player.
Earlier this summer, Gundogan expressed his desire to stay at Man City and he is expected to begin pre-season training with the rest of the squad later this month ahead of a friendly against Palermo on August 9.
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