İlkay Gündoğan (24 October 1990, Gelsenkirchen, Germany), born to a Turkish family, is a midfielder who joined Barça in the summer of 2023 shortly after winning the Champions League as Manchester City captain and being a fundamental part of the all-conquering sky blue squad.

Ilkay was just 4 years old when he joined Hessler, and later played at Buer and then Bochum.

He was 18 when he went to FC Nürnberg, making his Bundesliga debut on 19 September 2009 against Bayern Munich after helping his side earn promotion the year before. He also scored his first goal against Bayern in the return game that season. 

In May 2011, he joined Borussia Dortmund, where he won the German league and joined the national side at Euro 2012.

He quickly became an indispensable part of Jürgen Klopp's side, which reached the Champions League final, where Gündoğan scored a penalty but ultimately lost to Bayern. 

Now a global star, Gündoğan was signed by Pep Guardiola to Manchester City in 2016, where he would go on to win five Premier League titles. 

City also reached the UCL final in 2021, losing to Chelsea, but would be back two years later, this time against Inter Milan, and finally won the coveted trophy for the first time.

Technical profile

Gündoğan became a new man under Pep Guardiola, developing into an all-round midfielder who also scores plenty of goals.