Xavi first tried to replicate the more offensive version of Gündogan at City, but without De Jong he has brought him closer to the base of the play
Before finding his best version in the English team, he played as a midfielder and even questioned his compatibility with Rodri
When a signing is announced, One of the great temptations is to think that that player is going to replicate the same performance on his new team.. At Barça it happened with Gündogan this summer. Xavi himself tried to give the German a similar context to achieve this. From the beginning, the message was clear: I wanted the most offensive version of Gündogan. He wanted to bring him closer to Lewandowski to exploit his arrival and final pass.
But even so, Gündogan was seen in the process of adaptation. Nothing strange, because despite the facilities that Xavi gave them, Barça does not have a structure as consolidated as City nor does the game flow in the same way. To the question, Are you seeing the same Güundogan as at City? The answer is no, but because it couldn’t be any other way.
But it should also be emphasized that it does resemble the process he experienced in his first seasons at City. Gündo has had to adapt to the different setbacks that the team has experienced.
Xavi first tried to replicate his more offensive version of City, but in recent games he has brought it closer to the base of the square. De Jong’s loss has had a domino effect: it has conditioned Romeu’s performance and has made Barça need Gündogan to monopolize more of the game. That is why he has gone from playing as a midfielder to playing more as a midfielder in recent games. Script requirements.
All in all, it is not a new position for Gündogan, who also had to adapt to several positions during his time at City. The German did not have an easy time in his first season at City as he had to recover from a serious ligament injury. It was difficult for Gündogan to be indisputable although he left as a legend.
The ‘Rodrigan’ debate
Before giving his best performance near the forwards (Guardiola even used him as a false nine in some games), he was key playing as a midfielder, after Fernandinho’s injury, in the final stretch of Guardiola’s second Premier League.
But even after proving his worth, he was at the center of the debate with the arrival of Rodri to the team. Some team performances were disappointing when Rodri and Gündogan coincided in the eleven.
A situation that was reflected in the media with a play on words (‘Rodrigan’). “Of the 13 Premier League games they started together last season, City dropped points on seven occasions. Given that City only dropped points 12 times in total, It doesn’t seem like a simple coincidence.“, noted The Athletic on August 12, 2020. Yes, seen over time (they were key to winning the Champions League a few years later) it seems almost surreal.
But the reality is that for a time the two players were discussed and a narrative was established that they were not compatible. At that time it was said that they were too defensive.
At Barça so far he has started on the right foot and Xavi has been the first to highlight his understanding of the game. While waiting to have De Jong and Pedri, Barça needs Gündo to be more of a midfielder than a forward.