At Barça’s headquarters in Los Angeles, Ilkay Gündogan spoke to Mundo Deportivo about his start to life at FC Barcelona.
The full interview will be published on Tuesday, but in the preview, the German midfielder spoke about his new team-mate Pedri among other things.
Define yourself as a footballer with one word.
“I would say that a keyword to define my game is ‘adaptation’. I think I’m a very flexible player, I can play different positions, different roles. I’ve done it in the past, also at Manchester City, where I played the role of a midfielder, a double pivot, a ’10’, I even played as a ‘false nine’. I think I can play in several positions and the coach appreciates that about me. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that the team succeeds.”
Which player has surprised you the most these days?
“I already knew most of them, from watching them play and also from playing against them, either in club or national team competition. There was a player with whom I was looking forward to playing with is Pedri. I think he is a great talent, he is so young and at the same time so good. He has so much potential. Of course, we play in similar positions and we will probably play a lot of games close to each other. We will try to find each other a lot, just like with Frenkie de Jong. As a midfielder, you appreciate these types of players being close to you on the pitch, players to pass the ball to and combine with.”
Kieran Quaile | GSFN
