From Germany: Ilkay Gundogan future plans revealed amid Manchester City transfer enquiries and retirement rumours | OneFootball

The future of Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has now been detailed by German media this week amid doubts over his future beyond the summer market.

The 34-year-old is among a number of Pep Guardiola’s first-team squad members whose futures will be assessed by a revamped recruitment department, led by incoming sporting director Hugo Viana from this summer.

One major departure has already been confirmed and announced by the club and the player, with Kevin De Bruyne set to leave Manchester City after 10 legendary years in Sky Blue establishing himself as arguably their greatest-ever player.

Midfield is expected to be the single area of Pep Guardiola’s side that is set to undergo the most change, with an attacking midfielder expected to be brought in to replace the aforementioned Belgian and perhaps a more versatile name to compliment multiple positions.

But one player who may not be calling time on his Manchester City career for good, having already left the Etihad Stadium and returned one year later, is Ilkay Gundogan despite various difficulties throughout the campaign.

That is according to the information of Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, who confirms that Gundogan currently has no plans to end his professional playing career or leave the Etihad Stadium during the upcoming summer.

It is confirmed that the 34-year-old’s intention is to stay with Manchester City and fulfil his contract, which now runs until the summer of 2026 following an automatic 12-month extension to his initial one-year deal signed last August.

However, the report reveals that the former Germany international has also received ‘numerous lucrative and interesting enquiries’, although the nature of those proposals is not detailed any further.

Ilkay Gundogan himself has already commented on the possibility of changes being made by Manchester City and the wider club management this summer after what he describes as a ‘transitional season’ having been experienced by all those concerned.

“It might feel like [a transition season] right now without forgetting we’re still playing for something,” Gundogan said earlier this month. “We’ve done, unfortunately, too many mistakes for a long part of the season, probably October to February.”

The City midfielder continued, “We dropped a lot of points, a lot of individual mistakes. There are various reasons for that and I’m sure the Club knows and management knows.

“It’s about analysing that maybe, to definitely avoid something like that next season.”