Ilkay Gundogan leaves Barcelona to make Manchester City return

Barcelona's disastrous summer transfer window continues as Ilkay Gundogan is set to make his return to Manchester City.

The 33-year-old did not feature in Barcelona's 2-1 win against Valencia over the weekend in their LaLiga opener. The reasoning given for his absence was he was still recovering from a knock he picked up in the Joan Gamper match against AS Monaco.

However, the day after, rumors began swirling that the real reason he didn't travel with the team was because Barcelona were looking for an exit. Those rumors only intensified despite Gundogan posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, congratulating the team on their win.

Those became more than rumors when it was reported that Manchester City were interested in bringing Gundogan back. He left Man City two seasons ago as a free agent to sign for Barcelona.

Only a few days following Barcelona's season opener, Gundogan has indeed reached an agreement to join Pep Guardiola's side.

Some may ask why Barcelona seemed so keen to get rid of arguably their best player from last season.

The answer to that is simple: despite everything president Joan Laporta has done to reduce the wage bill, it hasn't been enough and they needed to clear more space.

Gundogan is still a player who can perform on the pitch and they knew there would be suitors for him given how he performed last season.

It's also an indicator of how poorly Barcelona have handled the transfer window under Laporta and sporting director Deco. They struck out on Nico Williams and then overpaid for Dani Olmo. With few outgoing sales, they couldn't register Olmo and needed to move Gundogan in order to do so.

Gundogan's departure is yet another stain on Barcelona's record and demonstrates incompetence at a time when they can't afford to do so.

To Gundogan's credit, despite initially having all the intentions to stay, saw the economic situation the club was in and decided to agree to a move to help Barcelona out. On paper, the condition was he would be allowed to leave on a free and that's what happened.

Gundogan was outspoken in his one season stint with the Catalan side. He didn't mince words following the loss to Real Madrid at home and the loss in the Champions League against PSG where Ronald Araujo was sent off after Barcelona took the lead.

He was a leader and a veteran presence in a dressing room filled with young players. He may not have been an undisputed starter under Hansi Flick but his influence is certainly going to be missed in that locker room.

With Gundogan leaving, expect Dani Olmo to be registered in time for Barcelona's match against Athletic Bilbao.

Barcelona's loss is Manchester City's gain. Guardiola made it no secret that he wanted to keep Gundogan and was a signficant miss for the Premier League side. Gundogan now returns to City where he won the treble before moving to Barcelona.