National player Ilkay Gündogan leaves triple winner Manchester City and moves – but not to BVB, but to a Spanish top club.

Many BVB fans had dreamed of a sensational return, but Ilkay Gündogan (32) had other plans. The native of Gelsenkirchen and German international will move from Manchester City to the Spanish top club FC Barcelona for the coming season. This was announced by the Italian transfer expert Fabrizio Romano. According to the report, the midfielder has signed a two-year contract with the Catalans. Gündogan has an option for another year with the Spanish club. According to Romano, the contract includes an exit clause of 500 million euros. At FC Barcelona, he will meet his former BVB team-mate Robert Lewandowski, who has been playing for Barca for a year.

Gündogan’s contract with the triple winners Manchester City expires this summer, so he is moving free of charge. At the English champions, Gündogan was captain and a top performer. Coach Pep Guardiola would have liked to keep him. According to English media reports, Croatian Mateo Kovacic (29) is to replace the German. The world-class midfielder is still under contract with Chelsea FC. A transfer fee of around 30 million pounds is being discussed.

A return of Ilkay Gündogan to Borussia Dortmund was already off the table. There had been contact between his advisor and BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl, “but the likelihood was still not very high,” said Gündogan about a transfer before the international match against Colombia on Tuesday in his native city of Gelsenkirchen.

The 32-year-old has long been linked with FC Barcelona and FC Arsenal. Gündogan had commented on the Catalans as recently as Monday. “Sporting-wise, I don’t have so many good memories of Barcelona,” Gündogan said and reported with a laugh: “Every time I’ve been there, I’ve been in hospital and had an operation.” But Barcelona is “already a beautiful city. “