Ilkay Gündogan (32 years old) was already one of FC Barcelona's priorities in this transfer market before Leo Messi fell off the Barça list. But now, after realizing that it is impossible to sign the Argentine star, the Manchester City midfielder is a much higher priority. Given his quality, his experience and the fact that he is a player who would come free, the German is a clear target for Xavi Hernández. For this reason, within the sports area of FC Barcelona, as MD may have learned, they have set themselves a challenge: close the hiring of Gündogan as soon as possible. And that's it.

Barça has already agreed to his arrival as a free agent for the next three seasons. Now, the Barça club wants to give the final push to the operation. And that happens by closing the operation in the next few days or, if possible, even in the next few hours. 

Barça is calm with the German midfielder, who has expressed to important people in the Barça club his commitment to becoming a new Barça player. But at the same time, City is also pressing him to renew, largely due to his fantastic performances in the final stretch of this season, where he has been decisive in the triumphs of Pep Guardiola's team in the Premier League and in the FA Cup, without forgetting his determining role in the Champions League.

For this reason, once Messi has fallen out of the culé equation and there is salary space to face an operation like Gündogan 's at the file level, Barça wants to finish it off to give a positive effect and to neutralize any attempt by Manchester City for retaining him or the offers that the German has as a free agent, either from English, German clubs and even PSG and the Saudi Arabian league.

In parallel, City is preparing for what may happen. In this sense, the English club is already moving in case it ends up running out of Gündogan and has thrown its nets on Mateo Kovacic (29 years old), Chelsea midfielder who ends his contract with the club next year. 

The journalist Fabrizio Romano, an expert in information on the transfer market, assured yesterday that City had already reached a contractual agreement with the Croat, adding that Chelsea are willing to sell him now before seeing him leave for free, as a free agent, in 2024.