Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has made it clear he wants a smaller squad.
The 54-year-old, now approaching his 10th season in charge at the Etihad Stadium, wants to trim down the fat, so to speak, and make sure he does not have so many players to deal with ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.
Kevin De Bruyne is heading to Napoli, whilst the futures of Ederson and Jack Grealish are yet to be resolved, with both players linked with moves away from the club this summer. But a new name could also be heading for the exit door, with interest having arrived from Turkey.
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Guardiola has made it clear he could walk out next season should City’s hierarchy not listen to his demands, which would be a shame given he has only just signed a new contract extension with the Premier League giants.
With four new faces already arriving at the Etihad Stadium in recent weeks, it is clear City will have to lose some key members of their squad, with one 34-year-old perhaps now a prime candidate to exit the club.
According to reports in Turkey, Galatasaray want to sign Ilkay Gundogan, after he impressed following his return to Manchester City from Barcelona last season. The Germany international could find himself down the pecking order after Tijani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki arrived at the club in the last few weeks.
It appears Galatasaray wants to take advantage of the uncertainty around Gundogan’s future and have now made their move for the veteran, having also signed Leroy Sane from Bayern Munich, on a three-year contract recently.
A small fee would be required, given Gundogan played a certain number of games for City last year that triggered an extra year in his contract, with it unknown at this point whether Guardiola would be happy to lose the former Borussia Dortmund man or not.
“I said to the club I don’t want that [a bigger squad],” said Pep back in May. “I don’t want to leave five or six players in the freezer. I don’t want that. I will quit. Make a shorter squad, I will stay. It’s impossible for my soul to [tell] my players in the tribune [stands] that they cannot play.”
In FourFourTwo’s view, it would seem silly for City to have allowed Gundogan the chance to trigger his extension clause, should they have wanted to let him go last season, so we can’t see the 34-year-old going anywhere this summer.
But it does bring up an interesting debate, especially with their midfield continuing to have an ageing look to it, with the likes of Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva and Gundogan himself all over the age of 30.
