Think about career after career
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The Athletic lists İlkay Gündoğan as one of only five professionals to have been coached by both Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. In addition to the 34-year-old midfielder, who has been playing for Galatasaray since the summer, Mario Götze, Xherdan Shaqiri, Robert Lewandowski and Thiago Alcántara also belong to this special category. After his career ends, Gündoğan could easily imagine working with Guardiola, as he did at Manchester City.
“We discussed it very seriously, to be honest,” the professional told the portal. “I’m seriously thinking about it and have already completed my first badge. I’ll do the others too. I still enjoy playing, but I know it will end at some point. It feels natural for me to take this path.”
Gündoğan elaborated: “Whether it is successful or not is another question, but I am grateful and happy that I have had such great coaches in my career so far. I feel really motivated to continue with it. It would be a mistake not to try.”
Gündoğan: Guardiola’s playing style suits me better than Klopp’s
When asked which style of play he felt closer to, the former German international replied: “I have to be honest and answer Pep because we were so dominant together. We had enormous success in Dortmund and I loved this football. I really respect Jürgen, both as a coach and as a person. Every time we saw each other, even in Liverpool, we hugged each other like father and son. Both had a huge influence on my development, but at “For Pep, the tactical aspect, the ball possession game, is a little clearer to me than switching football.”
Gündoğan played 358 times under Guardiola at Man City and 117 times under Klopp at BVB, and he also played under Xavi (51), Dieter Hecking (43), Thomas Tuchel (40) and Michael Oenning (24). The Gelsenkirchen native has signed with Galatasaray until 2027 and will receive an annual net salary of 4.5 million euros in Istanbul.