Kloop, Tuchel, Guardiola… and now Xavi

Shaped by three renowned coaches, the challenge for the man from Egar is for Gündogan to continue shining and improve his Barça

He was one of the leaders who made history with Borussia Dortmund and with City he achieved a historic treble

“If I had ten coaches, one taught me something, three didn’t ruin me and six tried to ruin me.” It is a phrase of the great Marco Van Basten With which he wanted to exemplify that throughout his career the coaches he had had barely managed to improve him as a player and that they had contributed rather little. And that had some of the best…

It is not known exactly if Ilkay Gundogan He thinks the same of all the coaches he has had during his long career, between training and elite, but what is very clear is that the last three he has had have marked him. and positive.

With Jürgen Klopp was part of that Borussia Dortmund who played at a fast pace, a volcanic team as would be his best Liverpool. In that team, which dared to discuss the hegemony of Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, Gundogan played in a double pivot and was in charge of serving balls to the most advanced players, such as Marco Reus, Götze, Blaszczykowski and Lewandowski.

During those years he did a double job, creation and containment and he fulfilled it like a charm. His great technique allowed him to put great balls to those above so that they could overcome their rivals with devilish speed. He won the Bundesliga and the German Cup in the 2011/12 season and they were about to win the Champions League in 2012/13, but Bayern won them in the final. In a game where, by the way, Gündogan scored a penalty.

Klopp left in 2015 and Thomas Tuchel arrived. The story lasted less than expected and ended due to disagreements between the coach and the Borussia Dortmund board of directors. Gündogan continued to be an important piece in the team and Tuchel tried to get him to renew his contract but the midfielder had already decided to change the air.

His figures in Dortmund

He coincided with Klopp for four seasons at Borussia Dortmund and he had a great time. He recently acknowledged that he likes Guardiola’s style more but that the current Liverpool coach marked him for his “passion” and for how he approached all the games. “He is a natural motivator, he prepares the team for battle.”

In the 2011/12 season he played 28 games in the Bundesliga (3 goals and 3 assists), 2 in the Champions League, 1 in the German Super Cup and 5 in the Cup, with one goal and one assist. He repeated figures the following season in the league competition and in the Champions League, the year they reached the final, he played 12 games and scored a goal and provided an assist. He played 4 Cup matches and another in the Super Cup.

Due to his serious back injury, he barely played in the 2013/14 season. He only participated in one Bundesliga game, another in the Cup and one in the Super Cup, in which he scored. In Klopp’s last year on the bench, in which he won the Super Cup, he participated in 23 league games (3 goals and 4 assists) and in six in the Champions League (1 assist) and 4 in the Cup.

In the only season with Tuchel as coach, he played 25 games in the Bundesliga (1 goal and 3 assists), in the 5 Cup games he scored and assisted and in the Europa League he participated in 6 games with 1 goal and 3 assists.

In total, with Borussia Dortmund, Gündogan played 157 games, scored 15 goals and provided 20 goal assists.

All the papers in Pep’s City

Despite the fact that he was injured shortly before his signing, Guardiola waited for him. Because he knew that Gundogan would be a key player for his team. They paid 27 million euros for him in 2016 and it was his first signing as a City manager.

The German came from playing for Borussia in a double pivot doing contention work and also throwing to teammates with vertical passes but soon Guardiola began to shape him for the football he likes the most.

In fact, at City he has undergone a spectacular transformation because he has advanced his position until he has become an arriving midfielder and who, thanks to his good shot, has ended up as one of the team’s top scorers (17, 10 and 11 goals in the last three seasons). With Pep, he has occupied the position of midfielder when Rodri was not there and Stones had not been ‘invented’, as an attacking and interior midfielder. And now it could be said that he is a midfielder.

“I will never forget everything he has taught me. He gives incredible attention to the technical details of the game. He always wants to have a plan, and that is something that intelligent, flexible and versatile players like,” de Guardiola said.

With City he has ended up playing a total of 304 games (60 goals and 40 assists). His numbers are growing and coincides with the change in role that the team has had in recent years, in which he has moved away from his own area to do it to the rival. He scores more goals and gives more assists while passing passes from him decrease.

Despite playing more advanced, Gündogan is still a footballer who perfectly knows how to set the times. He maintains the pause and control of the rhythm that the team needs at all times and that is thanks to his great football intelligence. That’s why Guardiola values ​​him so much. Because he is a total midfielder.

What Xavi wants from him

After becoming a good player with Klopp and Tuchel and reaching his maximum level and exploring all his limits and records with Pep, Xavi has the challenge of continuing to make Gündogan shine in a new competition. Besides, it will try that his Barça improves and wins in competitiveness.

The most probable thing is that the player from Egar used the midfielder as Guardiola had been doing at Manchester City. With Barça he must play in the upper part of the square, close to Lewandowski, from the rival area and close to Pedri, the other most creative midfielder on the team.

Xavi will want him to contribute imagination in the last pass and in the decisive zones as well as a relevant number of goals, which is something that always reproaches their midfielders, who need to step on the rival area more. With Gundogan you shouldn’t have any problems in that sense.

In the lower part of the square, Frenkie De Jong will play accompanied by the positional midfielder that the team has yet to incorporate. But it cannot be ruled out, far from it, that Gundogan could do it in some game of the season because he had already played in a similar position at Borussia Dortmund and in his early days at City.