It is easy to understand now, all these years of quiet, understated brilliance later, why Pep Guardiola was so insistent that Manchester City should push through a deal for Ilkay Gundogan, even with a serious patella injury that might have convinced others to look elsewhere.
David Silva could pickpocket the tightest of defences, Kevin De Bruyne bends passes round corners where others see only roadblocks, Fernandinho and Rodri have been midfield sentries of genuine excellence, the multi-functional Bernardo has been the equivalent of a Swiss army knife and Erling Haaland’s goals have elevated City to new heights.
But no footballer during Guardiola’s seven years in Manchester quite embodied the totality of the Catalan’s ideals like Gundogan, no player has been more in tune, more in sync with his manager’s vision of how he wants the game to be played and at what pace, what tempo, than the Germany midfielder.
And, in that sense, it has always felt fitting that Gundogan was Guardiola’s first signing as City manager: The way of things to come spelt out from the very start.
Now, though, Guardiola must plot a course forward without Gundogan who, after much deliberation, has opted to join Barcelona on a free transfer just a fortnight after captaining City to an extraordinary Treble.
Guardiola may have an embarrassment of riches to fall back on – and perhaps Declan Rice to soon add to Mateo Kovacic – but few will privately mourn the departure of one of the greatest value signings in the history of the Premier League quite like the man who brought him to England.
Gundogan sobbed on Guardiola’s shoulder on the day he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in December 2016 – his City career still only six months old at that point – but it was the manager who would routinely come to lean on the player in subsequent seasons.
Guardiola, for example, is convinced that City would not have won the 2018/19 and 2020/21 Premier League titles without Gundogan, who performed two entirely different roles to help carry his side towards and over the finishing line. In the first of those campaigns, Gundogan filled the huge void left by an injury plagued Fernandinho to excel as a midfield pivot as City won their final 14 league matches to pip Liverpool to the post by a point on the final day.
Two seasons later, it was Gundogan who largely ensured the transition to a false nine system would prove so effective. In the absence of a recognised striker, Gundogan finished as City’s top scorer with 17 goals, supreme at ghosting through the second line as an advanced midfielder and exploiting the space created by the false nine in Guardiola’s recalibrated system.
Equally, there may have been no fourth title for Guardiola a year ago had Gundogan not come off the bench and scored twice in five minutes to help turn a 2-0 deficit against Aston Villa into a 3-2 win on the final day, his very own “Aguerooooo” moment if you will.
Similarly, last season, as one of two No 8s in a 3-2-4-1 formation, there may have been no Treble but for Gundogan’s enduring ability to come up with big goals in big moments, not least his two volleyed finishes in the 2-1 FA Cup final triumph over Manchester United.
Guardiola has often spoken glowingly about Gundogan’s innate sense of where the goal is, but it was another attribute that the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach cherished most in the player: Pausa. It is a term the Spanish and South Americans apply to those players for whom time stops and everything makes sense, who bring order to the chaos, who can put their foot on the ball, even if it is for the most fleeting of moments, and wait for just the right time to pick a pass or speed up or slow down the tempo of a game.
It is something Guardiola feels Phil Foden, for example, still has to grasp, which is why he has predominantly resisted the temptation to start the England midfielder centrally. And it is why Guardiola so often turned to Gundogan in big games, in high pressure moments.
Manuel Akanji joined City from Borussia Dortmund, also Gundogan’s old club, last summer and rates Gundogan as the best he has ever played the possession game with: Eyes in the back of his head, sublime orientation, a 360-degree vision of everything around him. Witness the number of times Gundogan receives the ball in tight areas with bodies all around and yet rotates away into the one sliver of space available to him. No wonder Guardiola, with his inherent fear of being caught on the turnover and counter-attacked, loves him.
In an interview with Telegraph Sport last season, Gundogan said: “I remember once someone said to me that I’m the type of player who makes others shine on the pitch and that’s how I consider myself. I never try to put myself first. I try to put the attention on others and that’s also how I go through life a little bit. I don’t take myself too seriously or think I am too important. I appreciate what I have.”
Few players in the modern game with such talent to trumpet demonstrate such modesty and humility. Gundogan had some words prepared to deliver before the Cup final but his team-mate Ruben Dias wanted to speak so City’s captain deferred. It was him to a tee.
He cannot fathom the self-absorption that comes with social media and the obsession with likes and comments over honesty and integrity, and has long placed great emphasis on the importance of helping others in need, as evidenced by some of the amazing community work he has done at home in Germany and Manchester.
And then there is the football, always the football. “I have come to win and to play the beautiful game,” Gundogan declared upon joining City. He did both, with great class, and he will be sorely missed.
