Ilkay Gundogan - Done Deal

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Still think this Gundo deal has less to do with him being a Rodri back-up and more to do with Pep knowing De Bruyne can't do 2-3 games per week anymore (with the added issue that we'll end Rodri's career before he's 30 if he carries on like he has been doing). The likes of Musiala, Wirtz, etc. are the names we've got our eyes on next summer but until then Gundogan can shoulder the burden so it's not all on Foden whenever De Bruyne is inevitably injured again at some point this season. If Kevin makes 30 Premier League starts this season I'll be surprised; Gundogan and McAtee are good options to have while Kevin winds down.
 
The issue is we we have won convincingly against a strong opponent without Rodri. And another is can Gundo can sustain it in a higher intesive league. We have signed Savinho and before Bobb's injury we have another highly promising EDS looking to breakthrough. There is still plenty to get really excited about even without Gundo's return. Foden's awards is another one.

That's not an issue, that's a good thing.

Agree btw, re plenty to be excited about. And now there is even more.

He won't disturb anything any more than any other player coming in would have. He will slot in seamlessly, which wouldn't be true for other players. Would have been a push going into the season as we were, pretty much everyone acknowledged that, including Pep. Now we can get excited about all that, and having extra cover, and seeing a loved player back with us. I'm leaving it there for a while.
 
The question is will Pep rotate more or will he near enough stick to his strongest line up throughout?
He has never stook with a strongest eleven, there are too many games for that, he always rotates, especially in the first half of the season. He usually settles on a strongest eleven around late March.
 
Still think this Gundo deal has less to do with him being a Rodri back-up and more to do with Pep knowing De Bruyne can't do 2-3 games per week anymore (with the added issue that we'll end Rodri's career before he's 30 if he carries on like he has been doing). The likes of Musiala, Wirtz, etc. are the names we've got our eyes on next summer but until then Gundogan can shoulder the burden so it's not all on Foden whenever De Bruyne is inevitably injured again at some point this season. If Kevin makes 30 Premier League starts this season I'll be surprised; Gundogan and McAtee are good options to have while Kevin winds down.
I think you are right about the KDB bit. Gundogan will help him a lot.
 
The way I see it we were a body or two and a profile or two short of being able to compete across all fronts last year. If we had won the shootout against Madrid I don't think we would have won the league. This isn't really about cover for Rodri, as Gundo was never especially great in that role, but adding tools and players into the box that Pep can work with on a week by week basis in a season that has a world cup at the end and 2 more games in the CL. If come the run-in Gundo is in our first eleven for big games over others he'll be there on merit and because it serves a purpose. Gundo + a decent second striker takes us from being light to really being able to challenge in every competition we are in in the next twelve months. In my opinion, this is our most diverse squad in a few years.
He is still a highly influential player and hopefully he will be in the side on merit.
 
We didn't struggle vs Chelsea in the opening game and in the previous one vs United. Although it took a while Kovacic adjusted last season. We aren't really short in options.
But we don’t know how injuries and suspensions are going to affect the squad throughout the season.

Bringing Ilkay back on a free makes perfect sense for all parties.
 
Still think this Gundo deal has less to do with him being a Rodri back-up and more to do with Pep knowing De Bruyne can't do 2-3 games per week anymore (with the added issue that we'll end Rodri's career before he's 30 if he carries on like he has been doing). The likes of Musiala, Wirtz, etc. are the names we've got our eyes on next summer but until then Gundogan can shoulder the burden so it's not all on Foden whenever De Bruyne is inevitably injured again at some point this season. If Kevin makes 30 Premier League starts this season I'll be surprised; Gundogan and McAtee are good options to have while Kevin winds down.

Possibly. Might get pelters here, but I think some of our best winning spells were with Gundo and Bernardo playing instead of KdB when he was out. Notably the 21 game run when we came from 8th place to win the title, and parts of the treble season.
 
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