‘It was tough’ – Ilkay Gundogan makes bold admission over experience with FC Barcelona | OneFootball

Returning Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan admits that his time with Barcelona remained a dream come true, and an experience he does not regret.

Gundogan made a sensational return to the Etihad Stadium towards the end of the last summer transfer window, just one year on from leaving Manchester City on a free transfer for FC Barcelona off the back of a Treble triumph.

The recruitment of the German midfielder ended a summer-long search for a new midfielder at Manchester City, at a time when the club had seemingly come to terms with the fact that they would be unable to identify a suitable option at the right budget.

Whilst Ilkay Gundogan has been expectedly welcomed back to the Etihad Stadium set-up with open arms by the club and its loyal support, the 33-year-old has spoken fondly of his time with the iconic La Liga club.

Speaking exclusively to MailSport’s Ian Ladyman, Gundogan has revealed that despite the manner in which his time with Barcelona ended, the spell with the La Liga giants is one that he does not regret.

“You know, I think I had a successful time over there. I mean apart from anything, I played for one of the biggest teams in the world. I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams, playing for Barca and wearing that badge,” Gundogan admitted.

“Maybe people will look at last season and think we didn’t win anything. That’s true,” he continued. “But if you look at how we performed we had 85 points at the end of the season, only three less than the previous year when they won the league.

“We were playing against a really difficult Real Madrid side. I feel very privileged to have played for Barcelona. In other circumstances maybe things would have turned out differently. It was a tough but also great experience. So no regrets at all.”

The common consensus was that Ilkay Gundogan was deemed surplus to requirements by Barcelona, as the La Liga giants struggled to register new signing Dani Olmo with the league due to ongoing financial issues.

As a result of Gundogan not wanting to create any problems for his then-employers, the decision was taken to seek other opportunities and Pep Guardiola alongside Manchester City did not hesitate to take up the chance of re-signing their former captain.

Gundogan’s responsibilities and dependancy from his coach is likely to be stepped up significantly in the coming weeks and months, with mainstay defensive midfield star Rodri expected to be ruled out for a significant amount of time with a ‘serious’ knee injury.