Italian outlet CMW claim that Manchester City could organise a swap deal with Juventus involving Ilkay Gundogan and Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo.
The Germany international, who turns 32 in October, has now entered the final 12 months of his contract at the Etihad Stadium and his long-term future at the club is believed to be uncertain.
Gundogan reminded all of his worth on the final day of the 21-22 campaign, scoring twice off the bench to beat Aston Villa. The win secured the Premier League title for Pep Guardiola’s side.
His future is in doubt though. Italian outlet Calciomercato reported last month that Juventus are looking to ‘immediately’ take advantage of Gundogan’s situation at City and will plan to table a bid for the midfielder this summer.
According to the same Italian outlet as relayed by HITC, Juventus and Manchester City could come to the arrangement of a swap deal – but not a direct swap.
The report claims Juventus will pay £25million for Gundogan, while City are said to be willing to stump up £34million for Arthur.
After six years and 251 appearances at Man City, it would be unthinkable to see Gundogan leave. But he was honest about how ‘frustrated and angry’ he got with Guardiola after being left out of big games last season.
The German international didn’t start in the Champions League semi-final or last two Premier League games (against West Ham and Aston Villa), so he wasn’t happy with his manager.
As per the Daily Mail, Gundogan spoke at the premier of Man City’s ‘Together: Champions Again!’ documentary and said: “’I was highly expecting to start (against Villa) and I didn’t. The week before I hadn’t started the West Ham game, so I was quite confident in starting against Villa.
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