Gundo helped deliver perfect parting gift

MIDFIELDER HAPPY TO GET SEASON BACK ON TRACK

- By SIMON BAJKOWSKI

ILKAY Gundogan left City with happy memories of restoring the team to its 'highest standard' after helping them to recover from a brutal season.

Pep Guardiola's side entered the campaign with hopes of another Premier League title but by the end of it were grateful to have scraped into the top four.

Gundogan, returning to the Blues after a year in Barcelona, took a lot of criticism during the course of the campaign. Alongside Bernardo Silva, the pair were two of a small group of players to largely avoid injury in the year but it meant that their form dipped as they were overplayed in the absence of others.

Nonetheless, Gundogan played enough to trigger an automatic one-year extension to his contract and planned on staying after seeing an improvement in form that helped the team over the line in their quest to make the Champions League again.