Ilkay Gündogan is presently participating for Borussia Dortmund and he is evidencing to be a very auspicious player with some fabulous displays since he signed. The current number eight for Borussia Dortmund is only twenty-three years of age but has established that he is mature enough to play in such a quality side in front of the thousands of onlookers that turn out at the ‘Signal Iduna Park’. Originally from the area of Gelsenkirchen, Gündogan was born to Turkish parents and was at rivals FC Schalke 04 for a year as a youth player before signing a second time for SV Gelsenkirchen-Hessler 06. There has been a trivial rumour that Gündogan is a closet FC Schalke 04 adherent that may be understandable with him growing up in Gelsenkirchen.
Ilkay Gündogan has played over one hundred times in the German Bundesliga scoring twelve Bundesliga goals. He commenced his Bundesliga career at VfL Bochum II but only jested twice in his time there before signing for 1. FC Nuremberg. He played for “Die Legende” forty-seven times scoring six goals and he ascertained that he was a talented star in the making with consistent performances throughout his time at the ‘Stadion Nürnberg’. These displays caught the eye of his current manager Jürgen Klopp, as he then went on to sign for Borussia Dortmund signing a four-year contract and for a fee of €4 million from the Bavarian side. When recruiting Gündogan, Jürgen Klopp gave his reasons for signing him, ‘He is willing to learn and is very smart’ and went on further by saying, ‘He also brings a great attitude. Ilkay has a great passing game, is a complete player, and fits perfectly into our footballing system’.
Since his acquisition to Borussia Dortmund he has played a pivotal role in Jürgen Klopp’s philosophy of playing attractive attacking football. He has had to play with some world-class players in his time with ‘Die Borussen’. Participating with collaborators such as Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski have made Gündogan into a better player. Additionally, he has played with some fantastic midfielders too such as, Sebastian Kehl, Nuri Sahin and Sven Bender who have moulded Gündogan into the unflawed midfielder.
When you assess Gündogan’s style of play, he loves to play a long ball, and why wouldn’t you with Robert Lewandowski always playing on the defenders shoulder. He also enjoys dribbling with the ball and isn’t scared to push on into the opponents box to help out his teammates when Borussia Dortmund attacks. This comes from his huge counter-attacking threat as Jürgen Klopp has prepared his team to be great counter-attackers as Borussia Dortmund famously assault. Gündogan is also known for his great concentration when playing the game and never looks out of place when playing in huge games. He played at, ‘The Etihad’, the ‘Bernabeu’, ‘Amsterdam Arena’ and the ‘Veltins Arena’ last season and has displayed respectable performances in all.
However this season Gündogan has hardly featured as he has been suffering with a back injury and Borussia Dortmund are unsure when he will return. It is evident that this season Borussia Dortmund have missed his magic in midfield as it has looked very slow with team often winning the midfield battles this campaign. This season Ilkay Gündogan has only played fifty-seven minutes and many of the Dortmund faithful and also Jürgen Klopp will want to get him back as soon as possible. He scored the crucial goal in the German Super Cup at the start of the season but that is all the local boy has been able to endure.
As a football fan you have to worry about Borussia Dortmund. It is almost certain that Polish striker Robert Lewandowski will leave for Bayern München, Mario Götze has already left. Rumours that Marco Reus will be leaving maybe for the Premier League and now Ilkay Gündogan is being whispered to be parting. It has been alleged that Real Madrid are going to launch a bid for him in the January transfer window and this is a definite possibility with his current contract expiring in 2015.
It is quite obvious that Ilkay Gündogan has a bright future but where will this future be? He has stated in the past that he would love to move overseas and play his football, preferably in Spain or England. He said, “My objective is to play in Spain or England. Without a doubt, I am happy but I have a plan for my career. I do not know what will happen in the future, but what I do know is that I want to play in one of those two countries. I like the style of football in Spain.” This is clear that Gündogan has a specific plan for his profession but his contract runs out in June 2015 and he indicated that he is currently discussing to further his contract with Borussia Dortmund.
Recently on BILD, chairman Hans Joachim Watzke has stated that the rumours about the midfielder wanting to leave are not true by saying, “If we believe everything that has been in the Spanish media about people who are supposedly leaving us, we would have to worry about being able to put a team together. We have not been told by Ilkay or his father that he wants to leave us.” So this appears that the Gündogan has not told any organisation that he wants to leave.
Nonetheless, local Madrid Spanish newspaper AS recently quoted Irfan Gündogan, the father of Ilkay claiming he said, “Madrid’s interest in my son is intense and they want to bid for him, but for now we can’t do anything until Ilkay fully recovers from his back injury. When he’s back playing regularly, we can talk.”However, Irfan Gündogan has implied he was perverted, telling Sueddeutshe, “Borussia Dortmund will be the first theme of contact for us. There are no discussions with other clubs.” It appears that Real Madrid want Ilkay Gündogan to be the replacement for Spaniard Xabi Alonso.