Pep confirms contract extension of Man City Midfielder, Gundogan

Pep Guardiola has confirmed a clause of contract extension for Man City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.

Man City brought back Gundogan from Barcelona last summer on a 1-year deal which included the option for a further 12 months extension based on the veteran midfielder’s level of involvement this season.

The specifics of his contract are not known, but Gundogan has started 31 games across all competitions and played the seventh-most minutes in the entire squad, evidently meeting the threshold for an extension.

However, Guardiola refused to guarantee Gundogan will still be at the Etihad Stadium next season as the City boss prepares to oversee a drastic overhaul of a playing squad which is not yet guaranteed of a spot in next season’s Champions League.

“He has one more year contract, definitely. What will happen, I don’t know, but he has one more year contract now,” Guardiola explained.

“The Gundo from Leicester, the Gundo from Bournemouth, the Gundo from today is the Gundo I remember, when we won the Treble and Quadruple and an important player.

“So his activity, his pace, his defensive intelligence arrived. Gundo has been with us massively. And as a team we could not help him, because it’s not about ‘you, you, you’. Everyone was down, was below, because the team was not playing good.

“When the team plays good, the individuals rise. Without that, in modern football you cannot do it.”

Meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne will be the most high-profile exit and it is not yet clear whether Gundogan will follow suit. Any interested clubs [reports have touted a possible move to Turkiye] will now need to negotiate with City, rather than with the player directly.