A man about town this week, Pep Guardiola. And one with an extra spring in his step.
Manchester City had controlled their season opener, calmly holding out a palm on Chelsea’s forehead and avoiding any erratic punching. Twenty-four hours later, their manager popped into one of his favourite haunts.
Salut Wines is about half a mile away from where Guardiola resides, near the cathedral. When he cheerily nipped in on Monday evening, it was becoming increasingly likely that an old neighbour of whom his memories are fond would soon be coming back.
The wheels were in motion to facilitate Ilkay Gundogan’s return as Guardiola arrived at Salut, seemingly in the mood to purchase something to celebrate. They have a separate temperature-controlled fridge for the really good stuff in that bar and a couple of reds to take away set him back around £500.
A special occasion, after all, and one of those transfers that knocks you sideways. There were still bits to do at that point yet once it became clear last week that Barcelona wanted rid of Gundogan’s wages — more than £200,000 a week — City were moving.
Pep Guardiola has managed to convince Ilkay Gundogan to re-sign for Manchester City
Guardiola made clear he wanted a midfielder and Gundogan then became available
Guardiola visited Tast Restaurant, which he owns, as he toasted the Gundogan deal with £500 worth of wine
By Wednesday night, the band were back together. Guardiola, Gundogan, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain were at Catalan restaurant Tast, toasting the captain’s comeback on an initial one-year deal. The free transfer is set to be formally completed on Friday.
It has been a whirlwind few days. Guardiola had made clear he hoped for a new midfielder, while mindful that attaining a traditional No 6 to supplement Rodri was fanciful. Gundogan became available and it had to be done, for both function and romance. The last time the German was spotted in blue came in Istanbul, as he tearily clutched the Champions League trophy in a corner of the Ataturk Stadium. Submerged by fans over a fence, there was overwhelming emotion for a man who had decided to wave goodbye to a club and manager he resonated so heavily with.
Part of the reason for leaving in 2023 was length of contract. There is an irony now that were he to stick around to trigger a further year on his new deal, he could have ended up staying for three years anyway.
Regardless, the idea of living somewhere with better weather appealed to his family. He and wife Sara welcomed baby Kais in the months before he joined Barca. It was a fresh start but one that didn’t work out, politics at the Nou Camp swallowing him whole. The serenity of a Guardiola reunion is worlds apart from the experience at Barca.
Sara, who had infamously bemoaned Manchester food as all frozen in restaurants only interested in high mark-ups on drinks, grew to love the city. She admitted to Mail Sport in February that she actually missed the place and the friends made there. Catalonia, to her, appeared lonelier.
Gundogan always identified with Manchester. Born in Gelsenkirchen, he recognised the importance of football to the area here as it was there. The industrial roots are akin to the Rhine region of Germany. To him, Manchester always felt like home. Spiritually, if nothing else.
Gundogan has told these pages before he is an overthinker to the point of questioning his own character — which, for a man who donated thousands of hours to a heap of causes across the city, seems overly self-critical — so Saudi Arabia can’t have held too much appeal. The idea of Turkey, where his parents are from, may have been trickier but there’s time for that if he wants.
Gundogan was Guardiola’s first signing at the Etihad, all the way back in 2016. They signed him injured, such was the new coach’s insistence that he needed to be here. They stood with him while recuperating from two serious knee injuries, to reach the crescendo of his City career, lifting the Premier League, FA Cup and Ol’ Big Ears in consecutive matches. Or so they thought.
Sara, Gundogan’s wife, previously admitted to Mail Sport that she missed Manchester
Gundogan has been the Guardiola organiser in midfield and tactically understands his boss
Guardiola’s first signing and, if they don’t press ahead with a forward to replace Julian Alvarez, then potentially his last, too. The poetry of that would fit perfectly.
He has been the Guardiola organiser in midfield, the man who tactically understands his boss better than anyone. The brain who controls their tempo. The scorer of the quickest goal in FA Cup final history in 2023. The brace against Aston Villa on the dramatic final day in 2022. And, in 2021, somebody who redefined himself as a false nine and dragged them to the title with 13 goals.
Clever players can operate anywhere, really. Moments follow Gundogan around. Or, more specifically, Gundogan ghosts into moments. Even at 33, he will still have some spare.
Last month, it felt for a few days that Gundogan was the ghost of City’s pre-season tour in America. He was in New York at the same time, without seeing any of his former team-mates. Then, more curiously, at their hotel in Orlando — apparently without bumping into anybody.
When he did see them before a friendly between City and Barca in the world’s theme-park capital, the big embraces suggested it had been a while since they had been together. Guardiola couldn’t seem to let him go in the tunnel. He doesn’t have to now. Not once the ink has dried, anyway.
This signing does raise some questions about James McAtee and the potential block it imposes on his development.
Yet it does bring in some additional leadership, with the hole left by Gundogan last year larger than anticipated. He does a lot of unseen work away from the grass — his dressing room rousing was sporadic and impactful — and can, at times, have a bit of a temper.
‘It takes a lot to make me furious,’ he told Mail Sport two years ago, two days after their capitulation in a European semi-final at Real Madrid. ‘But when I get angry, then I explode. I keep it in as long as possible inside myself but then that’s also not the best way of dealing with stuff.’
Barcelona wanted rid of Gundogan’s wages — more than £200,000 a week – which alerted City
A key part of City’s treble success in 2022-23, Gundogan has excellent leadership qualities
Barcelona’s stars came to realise that after what he saw as character deficiencies in a defeat by Real Madrid, which bore similarities to an episode in the Wembley tunnel in 2021. A rotated City had lost an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea and one player is said to have been messing about on his phone in the aftermath.
Gundogan had to be calmed down. He’d been let down by a poor performance and made a point of it in front of a squad that was becoming divided in two: starters and non-starters.
Fernandinho took him to one side and they devised meetings with players to focus minds. Gundogan counselled some and the pair of them even asked Guardiola if he could rotate the team a bit more to keep people involved.
A fortnight later, they had beaten Paris Saint-Germain away and then had one of the most openly harmonious afternoons you could witness away at Crystal Palace.
There were still no crowds then but the noise from the visiting bench — the encouragements, the joviality — City sounded like they had a full away end. That is Gundogan’s genius. He understands Guardiola, sure, but he understands people too.
