It would appear that the drama involving FC Barcelona this summer will not be ending anytime soon. La Blaugrana, despite their supposed best efforts, just cannot seem to hide from the mismanagement within. Now, with more reports flying out, it becomes clear that Barcelona have a massive problem to address.
While previous reports suggested that the club could be looking to offload some unwanted players, the latest updates state that the player who will most likely end up leaving Barcelona this summer was one of the team’s most important pieces from last season.
Ilkay Gundogan, the 33-year-old German veteran in the Barça midfield, reportedly has his reasons to leave this summer. However, as more news begins to pile up about his possible future, AS has highlighted something that happened a while back and how it could be the main catalyst for everything that is now happening.
According to the latest report, Hansi Flick directly spoke to Gundogan during the summer and explained to him that he is not going to be a primary starter this season. In Flick’s new Barcelona team, the profiles that are needed are expected to be more dynamic and direct. On the contrary, Gundogan’s specialities lie in enabling his team play smooth touch-and-go football with passing cohesion.
Unfortunately for the German midfielder, that is not the exact route Flick wants to take with his Barcelona team. Moreover, with players like Dani Olmo, Gavi, and Fermin Lopez looking to be more suitable for these demands from the German coach, the future of Gundogan becomes even more cloudy.
As it stands, the player is now looking for a satisfactory move away from the Catalan club and Barcelona would be willing to facilitate it. Moreover, from within the player’s own camp, it is said that this information regarding Gundogan’s role this season was directly conveyed by Flick to the player to avoid it being revealed through a secondary source that could cause internal conflicts as well.
Both the new Barça coach and sporting director Deco are aware of this, and they know that Hansi Flick will have his own unique demands from this team and Gundogan will not be a primary necessity in it. Moreover, his departure could also open up the way for other registrations to take place.
