It is really not an either or.
Ilkay Gundogan
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Nicholas van Whatsisface
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It is true pal. You deffo missed it. Gundo has been helping with coaching our under 16s team since 2022. I think he has all his full coaching badges now. He and Pep spoke about him returning to play 2 seasons to then become a coach for us.
I want to be a future City coach alongside Pep - but I'm not done playing yet
Ilkay Gundogan has returned to Manchester City after a year away at Barcelona - with plenty having changed since he lifted the Champions League trophy in 2023.www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Sorry mate - not trying to be difficult, but I don’t see anything in that article which suggests there’s a plan for him to join City’s coaching team after two years.
Quite the opposite - he specifically says in the article that they haven’t even spoken about it.
Loads about his future ambition to be a coach when he retires - which I’m aware of, and acknowledged in my post - but his recent interviews suggest he’s focused on prolonging his playing career for as long as possible, not moving into coaching in a year.
I’m sure he’d love to be a City coach or Manager at some point in the future based on his ties to the Club, but I haven’t seen anything anywhere to suggest that’s in his immediate plans.
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Gaz (FMwkdsoul)
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yeah, he did his B license, then got back to playing. He hasnt been coaching all this time jsut a few sessions for the requirement at the time. You can find vids of it when it was filmed .
Nicholas van Whatsisface
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Yep - seen those too mate.
I’m sure he’ll make a great coach in the future - he’s got the brain and the temperament for it, and he’s been learning from the best!
Dribble
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Unfortunately, his final season will be robbing our young players of the future (Echeverri, Cherki, O'Reilly, Gonzalez etc) of the chance to progress. Squad places & the HG quotas are at a premium, so we can't have it both ways.
I'd prefer he leaves for a season or two to Galatasary, & return as a City coach when he's fully retired from playing football.
BlueMoonRisin’
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Fair enough but the decision whether to stay or leave is upto Gundogan right now.
Dribble
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Gundog is clever enough to know that a bit-part season on the bench whilst stopping the development of our young squad, benefits no-one.
In him, I can see our future manager. I'm sure he'll make the correct decision for what's left of his career & what's in the best interests of Manchester City. Ilkay knows what time it is.
That's hysterical. It's on Pep who plays and how many minutes. Pep is not one to rob players of the chance to progress, unless this would help us win the title. Ultimately, it's about winning, not about developing players.
Dribble
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I respectfully disagree. Gundog is a City legend, but he's part of our storied past, not our future. We can't allow sentiment to get in the way of our rebuild & progress.
If Gundog stays, he'll take up a valuable non-HG spot. I think it best all round that we be clinical & clear out all the older injury-prone players now & spend the coming season bedding in those who have a long-term future with us.
If we win nothing next year during this evolutionary period, then imo, so be it. I honestly feel we'll fare no worse than last season. In fact, I feel we'll do markedly better, & may even surprise a few by challenging on all fronts.
Even if we eventually fall short, we'll have progressed over where we were last season, which will stand us in good stead for the coming seasons, as our new squad beds in & continues to gel.
The germination of that progress was clearly apparent against Al Ain last night. We can't allow anything to stymie our progress.
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I'm not pro or contra moving Gundo. Just pointing out that it's on Pep who plays. If we indicate to Gundo that he better leaves and he stays, Pep is in his right to select younger players ahead of him, which is likely to happen anyway.
Dribble
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The issue being that if Gundog stays, he'll takes up a valuable non-HG spot, forcing us to consider loaning out younger foreign players who'll be the foundation of our future squad.
As mentioned earlier, I suspect most of this is now out of Guardiola's hands. As Khaldoon said, we made a huge error not starting our rebuild last summer, & as Guardiola admitted, it was his decision alone not to start our much needed rebuild last summer.
If push comes to shove, I can see Viana, Soriano & Khaldoon insisting we look to the future & move on from the past. The players who served Guardiola so well previously have shown they can't withstand playing three times a week for nine months at the highest level of football.
They're all ageing too, & it makes little business sense to hang onto them for another season, at the expense of slowing down the progress & gelling process of our future squad. That's the reality of how I see it from the comments made by those above Guardiola.
Pep made his no major transfer call last summer & it led to a disastrous season by Manchester City's exhalted standards. This is why I believe this squad rebuild has been taken with Pep's consent. However, I feel the sales will happen whether he wants to retain certain players or not, as per the "trust" comments made by Khaldoon.
Good points, but Gundo's experience and leadership qualities may be more important than giving more munutes to some of the youngsters. Our aim is to win things next season, not just to prepare a team for 26/27.
Some don't appreciate the role of experience. Worse, some make pace the first and most obvious quality a player must have, unless he is a wizard like David. Gundo was not only highl6 valuable with his goals in 22/23 but with his leadership qualities, which he, unlike some recent legends, has in abundance.
Again, I'm not against letting him leave on free, but some want to sell Kova and Akanji as well. We ain't win anything without having the right balance of energy and experience. I think the main thing that has stopped Arsenal in the last two seasons to win a thing is not having enough experience in the squad.
Don Karleone
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That would be silly.
Txiki Txiki Bang Bang
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No disrespect but that's like a snail asking a grey hound to run faster
citizen_maine
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The ball moves fast so you don't have to
Dribble
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Akanji stays imo. However, we need to move on & as I stated earlier, we have more than enough big game experience left with Ederson, Dias, Haaland, Foden, Silva & Aké etc.
Even with Gundog returning & all his experience & leadership, we still suffered our worst season under Pep. Ilkay alone could do nothing to stop that. The time is nigh, & we need to move on.
I'm not so much focused on winning anything next season. 2025/26 is a transitional season for us. It's what we do in 2026/27 that counts.
The reality is, we should've started our succession planning immediately after the treble. We didn't & Guardiola has admitted that was all on him, so we are where we are. One step backward, to enable us to hopefully make giant leaps forward in the future.
If by that you mean we ain't winning the league and/or the CL, I doubt there's a single member of the club who believes this.
Our aim is to win, full stop. Not in 26/27 but next season.
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Dribble
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I'm not saying we're not in it to win it, but it's my personal view that getting the new squad to gel & click into gear is far more important in the long-term than winning something next season at all costs.
Why? Because knowing Pep, he'll again put his faith in the players who achieved 4 in a row & the treble, rather than seeing them as our past & concentrating on who will form the foundation of our future.
I'd find it galling to see Reis or Khusanov loaned out to accommodate Stones, or Echeverri & Bobb loaned out to accommodate Gundog or Kovacic. We gave up the luxury of a quiet evolution by standing still in the market & allowing our ageing & injury prone superstars to fade.
We've spent big & wisely since January, but what's the point if Pep is gonna revert to his tried & tested, as he tries to eek out one last tune out of the old band?
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