FC Barcelona is said to have apologised to Ilkay Gundogan and his wife Sara Arfaoui for making them feel ‘abandoned’ after their arrival. Gundogan had complained to the club about the lack of assistance he received during his first few weeks at the club.
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FC Barcelona apologize to Ilkay Gundogan and wife
After winning the Premier League title with Manchester City, the 33-year-old joined the Catalan giants on a free transfer in the summer. According to SPORT, Ilkay Gundogan expected to receive greater assistance with things like housing, transportation, and family care and complained as a result.
Due to FC Barcelona’s player registration rules, Ilkay Gundogan was only registered a few weeks before their season opener versus Getafe, despite joining weeks before. According to SPORT, his unhappiness is part of a larger problem at the club, with reserve players reportedly having to work other jobs to support their journey to training.
FC Barcelona has started the season quite well and now leads their Champions League group. But they will be hoping to move higher than fourth soon after suffering an El Clasico setback last weekend.
They have now lost three of their previous five LaLiga games. Draws against Mallorca and Granada were recorded, but the El Clasico loss was their first loss all season.
On Monday night, Ilkay Gundogan finished 14th in the Ballon d’Or rankings. This was after one of his best seasons in a City shirt. Arfaoui and Gundogan got married in 2022. Arfaoui also had problems settling in Manchester with her spouse, openly complaining about the quality of eateries in 2022.
Asked by a follower about her favourite place to eat in the area, she replied, ‘Sorry I’m sad to be honest but nothing. I tried so bad to find a good restaurant but… horrible food everywhere. Can’t find a real Italian or good sushi or just fresh food .. everything frozen. Restaurants here are just focused on making money with drinks and shot like night clubs not quality food.’
Gundogan unhappy with El Clasico loss
Ilkay Gundogan was fuming with his Barcelona team-mates’ reaction after their El Clasico defeat to Real Madrid. Jude Bellingham scored in injury time to send Real Madrid fans into ecstatic happiness as they won El Clasico 2-1.
After the final whistle, Ilkay Gundogan voiced his displeasure on what he saw in FC Barcelona’s dressing room. He said, ‘I don’t want to say something wrong, to be honest. But I was (just) in the dressing room, and of course, people are disappointed, but especially after such a big game and such a result, I wish (for) more frustration, more anger and more disappointment.’
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He continued, ‘This is a little bit the problem. I don’t know, there has to be more emotion, especially when you lose and you know you can perform better in certain situations, and you just don’t react and it transfers to the pitch. We need to make a huge step otherwise Real Madrid or even Girona is going to run away.’
He ended by saying, ‘I didn’t come here to lose this type of game and let the gap create. There’s also a responsibility from myself, a more experienced player, to not allow the squad to just let things happen. No, we need resistance.’
FC Barcelona fans will be happy that they have someone like Gundogan in the team. For a couple of years, their mentality has been under the scanner. To have someone, who is a serial winner, would be a boost for the Blaugrana.
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