Ilkay Gundogan is now the latest club icon to depart the Etihad in recent seasons, leaving his beloved Manchester City to join Barcelona, a dream he had cherished for a long time despite having happily filled his berth in Pep Guardiola’s stellar squad.
But Manchester City is obviously only way too familiar with the script by now as almost an iconic Sky Blues player has departed every summer during Guardiola’s tenure, and Ilkay Gundogan happens to be the latest.
Understandably and also most deservedly, tributes were penned and vocalized, with the necessary, impressive vignettes and montages quickly rustled up, ending up with a slick Etihad farewell that did grand justice to their exemplary club captain. And he most certainly deserved to leave on such a high commensurate with his massive contributions to City during his tenure.
Now that the festivities are over and the entire League is gearing up for the new season, City are themselves moving rapidly to find a replacement for their erstwhile captain. Where in the past, Rodri had to step up when Fernandinho left, Phil Foden upped his act when Silva left, Kevin De Bruyne assumed Yaya Toure’s mantle and Kyle Walker was signed to replace Zabaleta, Gundogan’s slot needs to be filled quickly.
There were indeed occasion previously when the replacements had taken longer, as in the case of when Claudio Bravo was not the Hart replacement City had hoped for until Ederson arrived a year after. Then there was also the time when City wouldn’t cough up the £80m to sign Harry Maguire in the summer that Kompany exited and eventually paid heavily for it by losing the 2020 Premier League title. Thankfully they found their eventual replacement a year later in Ruben Dias.
Let’s not forget also that the 2021/22 Premier League title was won without a recognized big-name striker after talisman Sergio Aguero left, until the exciting arrival of young wunderkind Erling Haaland last summer to prove Pep Guardiola’s ‘we cannot replace him [Aguero]’ statement wrong.
The immediate task now is finding a fitting replacement for Gundogan. Of course, it being the best football manager with all the prerequisite savvy and experience in the world at the helm, Guardiola would surely have had some kind of strategic plan brewing in his astute mind.
Foreseeably, in the short term, Mateo Kovacic will most likely be the stop-gap measure to fill the physical gap of Gundogan in the squad as he’s undoubtedly a stellar player, a four-time Champions League winner no less, and will certainly be able to offer a smattering of the defensive and central midfield qualities that Gundogan did.
Kovacic’s forte also resides in his strengths that can allow the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez to focus more on attacking, while he can also be relied on to offer more relief to Rodri than Kalvin Phillips did last season. Additionally this could also work well for Phillips so that the latter can then can focus more on what is in front of him than on what is behind him, as Kovacic and Rodri are both unquestionably better in that department.
Understandably Kovacic isn’t at all the perfect carbon copy Gundogan replacement. This role would perhaps be better filled by someone like West Ham’s hot Declan Rice if at all he does sign as he would be a better box-to-box equivalent over time. Then again for all we know, there may not be a perfect Gundogan successor available this summer.
City, fearless as always almost to the point of being cocksure, have always shown they have the patience and composure to wait for the right time to move for the right player to join their ranks to bolster them wherever the need may be.
For the immediate present – until someone like Rice comes along, with Kovacic filling up for Gundogan, and a metamorphic midfield brimming with players ever-ready to swiftly move inside – City can definitely still afford to bide their time to find the erstwhile German’s true replacement.