City fans will be hoping the topic of the conversation was a new deal for a player who continues to produce when it matters most for manager
As it stands, Gundogan’s final game for City will be the
How, though, can City let the
Gundogan delivered again, like he has for much of the final weeks of this season. Like he did in the final game of last season, when scoring two late goals to clinch the
And like he has done for pretty much the whole of Guardiola’s time at City, having joined in the same summer as the Spanish coach in 2016.
“I don’t need these kind of days to feel appreciated and feel special in this club,” Gundogan said after scoring after 13 seconds and again in the 51st minute to lead City to victory in the first all-Manchester FA Cup final. “I know that and that is why I have been here seven years.”
So, will he be staying at City?
“Nothing is decided yet,” he said. “We’ll see what will happen.”
A one-year extension is on the table for the 32-year-old Gundogan. He wants a two-year deal, reportedly for some longer-term security for him and his family.
Guardiola clearly wants to keep Gundogan. They are good friends — they live next door to each other in an apartment block in
Gundogan is perhaps the player who best epitomizes the Guardiola era at City.
“He knows what I think of him,” Guardiola said. “(City sporting director)
Gundogan is a FA Cup record-breaker after scoring the quickest ever goal in the final, timed at 12.91 seconds according to the
Guardiola, who has played Gundogan as a holding midfielder, a box-to-box central midfielder and a second striker off
“He plays the big games like they are friendlies,” Guardiola said. “He can cope with the pressure.”
If the
“We have a chance to do something special and win the treble and we do not want to let this opportunity pass us by,” he said.
“I can promise our fans we will do everything we can to win in Istanbul.”
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