Ilkay Gundogan has revealed that he chose not to join Liverpool, prior to moving to Manchester City.
The midfielder made the move from Borussia Dortmund to the Etihad back in 2016, having shone under Jurgen Klopp at the Bundesliga club.
He has since gone on to make 147 appearances for City, scoring 22 times and winning two Premier League titles along the way.
In an interview with FantasyPL, with quotes provided by the Mirror, Gundogan spoke about his decision not to sign for the Reds:
I believe in challenges in life and I always try to challenge myself first of all. I feel like if I don’t challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone, I’m not going to change anything and won’t improve.
So I had a great four years with Jurgen and I love him as a person and a manager but I felt it was time for something else.
I wanted to leave Dortmund in Dortmund and didn’t want to think about the time I had with him when I was joining a new club. That was a bit of the reason why I didn’t want to join Liverpool.
Read Liverpool Verdict
While Gundogan has been a successful signing for City, I don’t believe he would have been the right fit for this Liverpool side. He suffered terrible injury problems at Dortmund, taking away some of the dynamism required to thrive at Anfield in a Jurgen Klopp side.
At best, I think the Germany international could have been a squad player, using his experience and technical ability to good use, with a 91.6 per cent pass completion rate recorded in the Premier League this season.
I believe his best days came under Klopp at Dortmund, before the injuries hit and when he scored in the 2013 Champions League final.
Although only 29, he feels older in my opinion, because of his aforementioned lack of legs, and a reunion with Klopp probably wouldn’t have worked out as well for the German international as his move to City did.
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