Gundogan On Borussia Dortmund’s Watchlist

Ilkay Gundogan’s former club Borussia Dortmund are reportedly monitoring the delay in the midfielder signing a new deal at the Etihad.

The Manchester City and Germany international is still held in high regard at the Westfalenstadion, where he won a Bundesliga title and spent five happy years.

Gundogan is out of contract next year and the Citizens have made it clear they want the classy 28-year-old to remain playing his football under Pep Guardiola, who made him his first signing when he paid Dortmund £22m for him in 2015.

The German likes his life in Manchester but has been in no rush to sit down and open concrete talks with City on an extension, which has alerted bosses at Dortmund.

However, the current Bundesliga leaders can’t get close to Gundogan’s £120,000-per-week wages unless his contract situation continues to run down.

At that stage, City would be forced to listen to reasonable offers, rather than let him walk away for nothing next year, although a return to his homeland could yet make him think twice.

Gundogan is of Turkish descent and the Gelsenkirchen-born playmaker was targeted for abuse last year from some football fans in Germany after he posed with Mesut Ozil alongside Turkey’s controversial president Recip Tayyip Erdogan, following his visit to London.