Former Barcelona star Ilkay Gundogan has opened up on his final days in Catalonia before a summer return to Manchester City.
Gundogan completed a whirlwind move back to Manchester in the final days of the August transfer window in a transfer that shocked at both ends.
Despite weeks of speculation on his future being rejected, with 12 months left to run on his La Blaugrana contract, a bold move from the English champions changed the game.
Within days of City registering an openness to bringing him back to the Etihad Stadium, Gundogan agreed to the switch, and Barcelona made the offload.
Despite his importance to Barcelona, the Catalan giants are still balancing a delicate financial situation, and salary cuts help in that regard,
Gundogan told an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, he has no regrets over the decision, but admits things could have been different in in Barcelona.
“I feel privileged to have played for Barcelona. Under other circumstances, things might have been different. It was a tough experience, but a fantastic one, I don’t regret anything”, he said.
“I played for one of the biggest teams in the world. I fulfilled a childhood dream, to play for Barca.
“Maybe people look at last season and think we didn’t win anything, that’s true, but if you look at our performances, at the end of the season we had 85 points.
“That was three less than the year before, when we won La Liga. We were also playing against a very difficult Real Madrid team.”
Gundogan now faces his biggest challenge since returning to City as the Premier League holders face title rivals Arsenal this weekend.