Why Ilkay Gundogan is set to make a strange return to Manchester City, a year after leaving for Barcelona

Ilkay Gundogan is on his way back to Manchester City according to reports, and will sign a contract until the end of the 2025 season. At first glance it seems like a completely normal transfer, as the German midfielder leaves Barcelona on a free transfer to return to the club he left in July 2023, but after some digging it has been that is anything but the case.

Firstly, free transfers usually take place when a player’s contract expires and he or she has become a free agent. That’s how Gündogan left City for Barcelona in the first place. But Gündogan’s contract had not yet expired. Barcelona let him go without compensation, despite having another year under contract. And it’s not like Gundogan’s time at Barcelona was a failure either. He was successful in his only season at Barcelona, ​​scoring five goals and assisting a further fourteen in all competitions.

Clearly, this move isn’t just about fit on the pitch. Barcelona have not yet registered new signing Dani Olmo as he needs to reduce payroll to comply with La Liga salary cap rules. Olmo joined from RB Leipzig for a fee of $60 million but was absent from the matchday squad for Barcelona’s season opener against Valencia. The departure of Sergi Roberto to Como, Italy, will help with that registration, but more is needed.

This is where Gundogan’s return to his old club in Manchester City fits in, along with Barcelona looking for options to move Vitor Roque’s salary to a new club after signing him from Athletico Paranaense in Brazil in January 2024 had made it to the club. With a new manager in Hansi Flick taking over, some changes are expected, but they go beyond simple management moves.

Barcelona has used financial levers such as sell their media rightsto bring them just below the salary level required to register their new signings. But at some point the levers run out and the only way to make their wage bill work is to reduce it. There are only so many contract negotiations or cases where youth players are released before useful players also have to leave the club. Pau Victor is the only new signing registered after costing a transfer fee after Barcelona brought him back from Girona to strengthen their attacking corps.

So at least Barcelona’s reasoning makes sense. They prefer newer, younger players to Gundogan, and with City interested in having Gundogan back, he is happy to leave. But the next question is: why does Man City want to make this deal? They are the ones who let Gundogan leave as a free agent in the first place. Since his departure, Gundogan has been more or less replaced by Mateo Kovacic, but most of the club’s midfield signings have not or may not work out. Kalvin Phillips has been loaned out to Ipswich Town to see if he can rediscover being a Premier League player. Matheus Nunes could make it, but certainly failed to impress in his first season after joining from Wolves.

Expectations were high for Oscar Bobb this season, but after breaking his leg, the young midfielder will now be sidelined for at least three to four months, according to the club. With Champions League, Premier League and cup commitments, more depth is needed to win on all fronts.

Despite winning the Premier League last season, it was a disappointing season for City as they fell short in the Champions League and other cups. At times they struggled for consistency against the top teams. Since then, in addition to losing Bobb to injury, they have sold Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid and suddenly their squad is looking quite thin to compete in all competitions. Gundogan, at 33, is not a long-term solution for City, but they know what they will get from Gundogan every game.

City may regret deals like the one that saw midfielder Romeo Lavia leave the club, but also youth players are difficult to project. This is a strange turn of events that allowed City to provide Barcelona with relief from their financial woes, while benefiting themselves during a grueling season. Pep Guardiola will need more members of his squad in the long term to step up, but that’s another thing where Gundogan’s presence in Manchester will be a boon.

For Barcelona, ​​this does not mean the end of their financial problems, which will continue to crop up until the wage bill is under control, but it could be enough to avert a further crisis at this point.