CHRIS SUTTON: Ilkay Gundogan has gone under the radar – but he probably doesn’t mind that. He would not be out of place in conversations around the best midfielders in recent memory
Ilkay Gundogan has always gone under the radar with some of the greats but the Manchester City midfielder has one of the best brains in Premier League history.
Signed for just over £20million as Pep Guardiola’s first buy at the club, he’s been very understated — and he probably doesn’t mind that.
But his value to this team is sky-high. He’s extremely efficient at what he does. He’s been phenomenal for them and his goals of late have been crucial in this title race — as they were at the tail end of last year.
He makes the game look so simple. But the German isn’t simple and the way he moves around the pitch and drifts into the box to score or create goals is super effective.
The club captain is also an underrated leader and has an aggressive side off the ball.
Ilkay Gundogan (left) masterminded Man City’s 3-0 win against Everton on Sunday afternoon
The midfielder scored a stunning brace of goals including this sublime flick for the opener
He followed that up with a pin-point precision free-kick that beat Jordan Pickford in goal
As an all-rounder, he would not be out of place in some conversations around the best midfielders in recent memory.
The couple of touches for his first goal was tremendous awareness — and the second goal wasn’t bad either!
His City deal is up in the next few months. City should do all they can to keep him — but why would he want to leave when he has such a prominent role in this Treble-chasing team?
