Midfielder travels to Turkey to hold transfer meeting as Manchester City exit considered | OneFootball

Manchester City’s legendary Treble-winning captain Ilkay Gundogan is seemingly weighing up his options this summer ahead of a possible exit from the Etihad Stadium.

The 34-year-old is coming into an off-season that had the potential to hold some uncertainty, with the player and City officials only agreeing on an initial 12-month deal for the German when he re-joined the club last summer.

Following the emergence of fresh financial issues at FC Barcelona, Gundogan was deemed surplus to requirements in Hansi Flick’s squad roster, and as such an exit for the player was sought out with Manchester City emerging as the successful suitor.

The one-year deal agreed with the player also contained an automatic 12-month extension, based on the midfielder recording a certain amount of appearances across the 2024/25 season, which was comfortably exceeded in the end.

Across the course of the campaign, Gundogan emerged as one of the most frequent appearance makers for Pep Guardiola, with widespread injury and fitness concerns leading to the veteran amassing 50 outings across competitions.

But while the player holds a personal belief that he will remain with Manchester City into the new season, as per his contract, there is a growing line of reporting emerging from Turkey that indicates a potential interest in a switch to their league.

According to the information of journalist Ali Naci Küçük, Ilkay Gundogan himself travelled to Istanbul earlier this week and held a transfer-focussed meeting with Galatasaray officials.

Additional reporting courtesy of Haldun Domaç has claimed that Gundogan is currently house-hunting in the region of Kemerburgaz, although it remains to be seen whether that is directly linked to a potential move to the Istanbul club or merely for personal reasons.

Any interest in a move to Galatasaray would mark a significant turn of events from the comments issued by the midfielder following the last game of the season as he scored to secure Manchester City a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League.

Speaking after the 0-2 victory at Craven Cottage against Fulham on matchday 38, Gundogan told reports from West London, “Nobody has said anything [different] to me so far; my contract got extended another year so obviously that’s what I expect right now.”

Gundogan has also previously stressed a desire to move into coaching beyond his playing days, and recently spoke about the potential to become an assistant to Pep Guardiola, should that opportunity arise in the near future.

“I didn’t ask him. But there’s probably nothing better than starting out as Pep’s assistant,” the midfielder told a recent interview. “The examples of the past few years have shown it can pave the way for a coaching career. Being Pep’s assistant would be extremely appealing.”

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City are currently on the search for new assistant coaches having dismissed Juanma Lillo and Inigo Dominguez from their structure following contract expiries, while Carlos Vicens has become the new manager of SC Braga.