Barcelona President Insists Gundogan’s Exit Was Not Financial
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has refuted claims that financial concerns played a role in Ilkay Gundogan’s departure from the club. Despite Gundogan’s own suggestion that financial factors contributed to his return to Manchester City, Laporta insists the decision was purely sporting.
Gundogan joined Barca as a free agent last year after helping Manchester City win the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League before returning to the Etihad Stadium last month.
In a farewell post on social media, Gundogan claimed that Barca’s financial concerns were at least partly responsible for his return to England.
Barca have struggled to meet La Liga’s strict salary cap rules in recent seasons and would reportedly have been unable to sign new signing Dani Olmo had it not been for Gundogan’s departure.
However, Laporta refuted these claims and instead suggested that Olmo’s move from RB Leipzig made Gundogan’s place in Hansi Flick’s tactical plans unclear.
“The decision on Gundogan’s departure was not made because of economic factors,” Laporta told reporters.
“He was an excellent player and person in the year he had here with us. With all due respect, we decided on a sporting level.
“Following the signing of Dani Olmo, the role of Gundogan was not clear, because they shared a very similar position.”
Barcelona have made a flying start to their first campaign under Flick, winning all four of their matches to sit top of LaLiga, boasting a four-point lead over Real Madrid.
The Blaugrana have previously started 10 seasons in LaLiga with four straight victories, going on to capture the title in nine of those instances and only failing in 2013-14, when Atletico Madrid were champions.
Robert Lewandowski leads the goalscoring charts with four strikes in as many games, sitting one clear of team-mate Raphinha – who netted a hat-trick in Saturday’s 7-0 rout of Real Valladolid.
Laporta has revealed Lewandowski offered to take a wage cut in order to help Barca meet LaLiga’s rules and has backed his third season in Spain to be his best yet.
“I see Robert as more motivated than ever. Robert needed this new boost, he is in very good physical shape and he looks very excited,” he said.
“He is a player committed to the club, I can assure you of that. When he heard that to reach ‘fair play’ we might need some effort, he offered his contract. I appreciated it very much, but I told him that it was not necessary.
“He is very demanding with the team, with himself and with his team-mates’ performance. I am sure that this will be Lewandowski’s best year.”
