Gündoğan no longer hiding in plain sight as Manchester City find form

Name the midfielders to have played for Manchester City in the last five years. Most will start with the trio of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Fernandinho in some order. Each can claim to have been the best in the Premier League in their respective position, and combined brilliantly as City became the first side to reach 100 points in 2017/18.

That group was gate-crashed in the following season by Bernardo Silva, before Rodri arrived in 2019 to bring physical presence to the midfield, something not seen since Yaya Touré departed a year earlier. The Ivorian’s best days were behind him when he reunited with Pep Guardiola at the Etihad, but nonetheless no list of City midfielders would be complete without him. More recently, Phil Foden has become one of England’s brightest hopes.

Yet the Spaniard’s first signing upon his arrival would likely not make many top-five lists. İlkay Gündoğan was first through the door in June 2016 but further recruits John Stones, Leroy Sané and Nolito were the ones to catch the eye. However, with each passing game, the £24.3m fee seems more of a bargain.

Difficult start does not undermine importance

Gündoğan actually started his City career on the side-lines with a knee injury, but recorded an assist on his club debut before finding the net against Bournemouth on his first Premier League appearance. He then notched a brace in a famous win over Barcelona, but that was as good as it got for the German in his first season, as an injury to his cruciate ligament ruled him out from December onward.

Nonetheless, his role in City’s subsequent success may have been ignored by some. He returned the following season and played over 1,500 mins across 30 league appearances – only 360 fewer than Aguero and just 11 fewer than Bernardo Silva. He also started all but one of the club’s EFL Cup games as they lifted the trophy for the third time in five seasons.

The 2018/19 campaign saw City trail Liverpool by seven points at the halfway stage. They went on to win 18 of their final 19 games and claim back-to-back titles. What many may not recognise is that Gündoğan played almost every single minute of the final 14 fixtures, missing just one match. He was ever-present in the Champions League knockout stages before his side’s elimination by Tottenham, and started all but one of their games en route to FA Cup glory (even making four assists against Rotherham). Last season he played every minute as City reached the Champions League quarter-finals and made 31 league appearances.

He has not been a bit-part player.

Gündoğan brings goals

It is this season, his fifth in Manchester, that has seen him earn more credit, in no small part due to his goal return. City’s second in Wednesday’s win over Aston Villa was his fifth in seven games, putting him level for the season with Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Roberto Firmino among others, as well as one ahead of compatriot Timo Werner. His strike against Crystal Palace three days earlier was reminiscent of former teammate Touré.

This should not be a surprise. In just his first two seasons at City the 30-year-old scored against Barcelona (twice, as aforementioned), Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham (twice). He has since netted in another Manchester Derby, twice against Chelsea and once against Leicester. Let us not forget, either, that this is a man with a Champion League final goal on his CV, having converted a penalty for Dortmund against Bayern at Wembley in 2013.

His latest strike against Villa was also from the spot. So far this season De Bruyne and Sterling have both fluffed their lines from 12 yards; with Sergio Agüero largely absent, the German has become the one to rely upon when the referee points to the spot.

Where does Gündoğan fit?

“Reliable”. A description associated with a lack of flair or glamour, which has bizarrely turned what should be a compliment into an insult. It suggests that a player will rarely give a poor performance, but is just as unlikely to give a great one either. Alternatively, it comes about when a player has no discernible traits that stand out to the average fan. In Gündoğan’s case this is possibly because, like former City midfielder James Milner (“Mr. Reliable” himself) it is difficult to define his exact role.

He is not an attacking midfielder, nor a playmaker by trade. He is not the defensive midfielder to take the mantle from Fernandinho, especially since City invested so heavily in Rodri. A box-to-box midfielder? Perhaps, but he is not a traditional ball carrier in the mould that the Premier League has previously seen; indeed, his dribbling stats are unremarkable (more on that shortly). Simply put, as we seek to outline specific roles more and more, he remains a pure central midfielder.

Besides his tally of five goals, so far this season Gündoğan has not excelled above any of his fellow midfield teammates in any metric (Fig.1).

Fig.1: Manchester City midfielders' stats after 18 games in the 2020/21 Premier League season. Stats via WhoScored.

To further understand his role, let’s look at his place in the line-up. He has started alongside Rodri in ten of his 11 league starts, whilst the other saw Fernandinho stand in for the Spaniard; in brief, he has not been the key holding midfielder. De Bruyne has also started in ten of those matches, the creative thrust in midfield.

The German’s purple patch has come at the ideal time. The news that De Bruyne is set to miss up to six weeks with a hamstring injury has hurt City’s chances of wrestling the title from Liverpool, but Gündoğan is proof that they have the squad to cope with it. His side sit second in the standings with a game in hand at the halfway point in the season. As the stats in Fig. 1 attest, the Belgian’s absence will leave a large void in terms of creativity, but he is not the only one capable of being involved in attacks. Gündoğan has played his part in City’s greatest triumphs before without stealing the limelight; you would not bet against him doing it once more.