#360view: Gundogan is Pep's perfect midfield operator

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  • Top form: Ilkay Gundogan.

    It’s testament to the complete trust and faith Pep Guardiola has in Ilkay Gundogan that when presented with transfer options in midfield this summer, he rejected the chance to try and bring in Thiago Alcantara, N’Golo Kante or Renato Sanches in order to pursue the Borussia Dortmund man.

    At the time it was somewhat curious, given the German international has been ravaged with knee and back injuries, the latter even leading to rumours he may never play again. But Guardiola clearly saw in the 26-year-old a midfielder for which he could build his new project at Manchester City around.

    If anything, his £20m (Dh90.4m) acquisition on June 2 went largely unheralded in the build-up to Euro 2016 and against the anticipated mass spending of the Premier League’s elite. It was almost underwhelming as transfer speculation demanded a superstar name to fit the narrative of Guardiola’s blockbuster rebuild of the club.

    The gamble may still not pay off, although you hope Gundogan doesn’t have to once again endure the injury misery he’s had to cope with for much of the formative years of his career, but at present his fee is appearing a bargain.

    Four goals in two games – including a brace against Barcelona – is always going to catch the eye but Gundogan has brought a balance to the area of the field Guardiola sees as primary battleground in determining the fate of a match.

    As he once said: “I would like to have a thousand midfield players in my squad, in my team because I believe the midfield players are intelligent (and) understand the game.

    “You can win the games with good defenders and good strikers, but to play good, you need midfield players.”

    Gundogan is exactly the sort of intelligent midfield addition that fits the model of a Xavi or a Xabi Alonso; two individuals who helped define Guardiola’s teams at Barcelona and Bayern Munich (where, incidentally, Guardiola once tried to sign Gundogan). Stylistically they may all differ to varying degrees but what unites them is a will to develop and an understanding and appreciation of tempo and space on the field.

    Whereas Xavi and Xabi are more natural holding players, Gundogan is a more obvious box-to-box midfielder but one who helps highlight Guardiola’s evolution from the possession-based Barca days, orchestrated by Xavi, to the more fluid and interchangeable direct approach he is breeding at City.

    Because Gundogan does a bit of everything. His positioning is excellent at both ends of the field. He works fantastically well between the lines, both in a defensive and attacking sense, reads the game exceptionally well to intercept and break up play when the opposition is in possession, while his first touch is so good he can operate in close areas before releasing the ball sharply. His pace is also an underrated asset while his fitness allows him to maintain an incredible level of intensity.

    Whereas Dortmund tended to station him deeper – a regression from his Nuremburg days when he was more a No 10 – albeit still using him as a dynamic playmaker, Guardiola has moved him up the field so his technical abilities can shine in the attacking third; as opposed to on the half-way line.

    He doesn’t need to see a great deal of possession (in terms of passes per game, Fernandinho and David Silva have out-passed him this term) because Guardiola’s City are about manipulating space as much as they are the ball. The German drifts from flank to flank and when he does, it’s in the knowledge one of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva or Raheem Sterling will move in kind.

    The obvious comparison being a more compartmentalised version of Rinus Michel’s total football; Guardiola has his four attacking midfielders but none play exclusively centrally or wide. It’s a roleless system but one that requires complete understanding.

    When it clicks, as it did in the second-half against Barca, it leaves someone like Sergio Busquets – arguably the best defensive midfielder of this era, certainly in terms of positioning – powerless to cover the exposed areas on the field.

    Gundogan’s presence and importance should now only grow with each game.

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