Jose Mourinho wants Fenerbahce to sign Barcelona star - Reports
Jose Mourinho, Fenerbahce's new manager, reportedly has intentions of signing Ilkay Gundogan from Barcelona. The former Manchester City midfielder has spent a year at Camp Nou, but rumors abound regarding his future at the club.
According to a report from todofichajes.com, Gundogan has yet to assure Barcelona that he is willing to continue with the club. He has already received offers to move to other clubs, with the report claiming that an offer he is most interested in is a switch to Fenerbahce.
The report claims that Mourinho would like to have Gundogan's midfield mastery at the Turkish club. They are already pushing to convince him to join their sporting project, as they see him as their biggest signing this summer.
However, there are no guarantees if the move will indeed go through in this transfer window. The report also notes that Gundogan is not particularly enjoying life at Barcelona. The midfielder joined the club last summer, playing 36 games in La Liga and 10 games in the Champions League.
However, they finished the season without a trophy, and he has lashed out at his teammates in recent months after losses.
When Gundogan slammed his Barcelona teammates
In October last year, Barcelona lost El Clasico to Real Madrid at home, with a late goal from Jude Bellingham sealing a 2-1 win for Los Blancos. After the game, which Gundogan scored in, the former City midfielder questioned his teammates' attitude, telling Optus Sport (via GOAL):
"I come from the dressing room and obviously people are disappointed after such a big game, such an important game and such an unthinkable result, I would like to see more anger, more disappointment... I didn't come here to lose these kinds of games or to allow these gaps to open up."
This raised questions about how Gundogan's words might have affected the team. However, then-manager Xavi Hernandez noted that it had not disrupted the atmosphere of the dressing room, while adding that he agreed with the midfielder. He said, during a press conference (via ESPN):
"Gundogan's interview was spoken about within the dressing room, he clarified what he meant and there is no problem... We agree with Gundogan and don't see any controversy. We lost El Clasico because we made mistakes. There was a lack of concentration and we disconnected."
Now, Barcelona are being managed by Hansi Flick, who will be hoping to have an impressive tenure as the manager of the Catalan club. He will need to determine, though, if he is willing to let Gundogan leave.