{"id":4359,"date":"2025-03-03T00:24:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T00:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2025\/03\/03\/manchester-city-boss-opens-up-on-veteran-midfielders-future-right-call-by-guardiola\/"},"modified":"2025-03-03T00:24:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T00:24:32","slug":"manchester-city-boss-opens-up-on-veteran-midfielders-future-right-call-by-guardiola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2025\/03\/03\/manchester-city-boss-opens-up-on-veteran-midfielders-future-right-call-by-guardiola\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City Boss Opens Up On Veteran Midfielder\u2019s Future: Right Call By Guardiola?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Despite being one of the favourites to clinch the FA Cup silverware, Manchester City<\/a> have failed to meet the standards set under Pep Guardiola both in England and Europe. Several renowned names have underperformed casting doubts over their future, but the charismatic Spanish boss is expected to have Ilkay Gundogan beyond this season despite reports of offloading ageing footballers.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old former Die Mannschaft international had an illustrious career in the Bundesliga with 1. FC N\u00fcrnberg and Borussia Dortmund. He went on to become Guardiola\u2019s first signing as the SkyBlues boss, who was aware of his excellence while being in charge of Dortmund\u2019s league rivals Bayern Munich in Germany. Gundogan spent seven years during his first stint and was pivotal in multiple Premier League triumphs as well as the 2022-23 Champions League.<\/p>\n

After more than 300 appearances for the Citizens, the German ace joined Barcelona on a Bosman transfer. He returned to Manchester City after just one season at Camp Nou but has failed to replicate his mastery in the middle of the park. Despite making 38 appearances across competitions, he looked out of place while dictating the tempo amid Rodri\u2019s injury absence. The deep-lying role does not suit his game, also, the \u2018number 8\u2019 spot requires more pace, movement and work ethic in Guardiola\u2019s style of play.<\/p>\n

\"Manchester
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND \u2013 MAY 21: Former Manchester City goalkeeper, Alex Williams MBE shakes hands with Ilkay Guendogan of Manchester City before presenting the Premier League trophy following the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at Etihad Stadium on May 21, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why Manchester City Have Made The Right Call<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Yet the gaffer is hopeful to have him beyond this summer. After signing an initial one-year contract, the veteran midfielder is on course to trigger an appearance-based extension for further 12 months.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNext season there will be a lot of games and this lot of games you cannot do it just with new ones, or the old ones \u2013 you have to be all together! I count on Gundo, I count on Bernie (Bernardo Silva), I count on all the players who have a Man City contract \u2013 they are there! No doubts about that. And they will be really important at the end of this season, and next season.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Told Guardiola (as quoted by The Mirror<\/a>) as he shared his thoughts on the 30 and above stars. Kevin de Bruyne\u2019s future is in limbo due to persistent injury problems, however, both Gundogan and Silva are expected to play a sporadic status to deal with the fixture congestion.<\/p>\n

City, meanwhile, splashed an astronomical \u00a3180m fee to rope in new names during the winter window. \u00a350m was spent on Nico Gonzalez to restore stability in the centre of the pitch, and the emergence of academy sensation Nico O\u2019Reilly could further reduce Gundogan\u2019s gametime in the 2025-26 campaign. The German, being in his mid-thirties, must accept the bit-part role and help the Spaniard conduct a squad rebuild for the future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Pratyay<\/p>\n

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Pratyay Maitra\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/h3>\n

A sports enthusiast who reads, breathes, as well as dreams (mostly) about football and attempts to share his views with the fanatics by jotting down a few words.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite being one of the favourites to clinch the FA Cup silverware, Manchester City have failed to meet the standards set under Pep Guardiola both in England and Europe. Several renowned names have underperformed casting doubts over their future, but the charismatic Spanish boss is expected to have Ilkay Gundogan beyond this season despite reports […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12953,"featured_media":4360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12953"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}