GOING UP

Signing for Barcelona is the latest step in a long upwards journey for Ilkay Gundogan

- Ryan Baldi

There is a fitting symmetry between where Barcelona will play their home games this season and the arduous path their latest star midfield signing has traversed.

While the Camp Nou undergoes its drastic renovation, Xavi’s La Liga champions will play their home matches at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys for the 2023-24 campaign. Originally constructed as part of Barcelona’s (unsuccessful) bid to stage the 1936 Olympics, the 55,000-capacity arena eventually staged the Summer Games in 1992 and is situated on Montjuic, the hill that overlooks the city’s harbour. Ilkay Gundogan, who signed for Barca after his Manchester City contract expired in June, has already climbed mountains to reach his dream destination.

Born in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Gundogan grew up supporting Schalke and represented the club as a child, but the first setback of his career arrived when, aged just eight, he was released by his beloved team.

“It was a huge dream of mine to be able to play for Schalke,” he told RevierSport in 2011. “For it to be over so quickly was not easy to take.”

He rebounded and, as a teen, impressed with Bochum’s secondstring and youth teams before signing for Nuremberg in 2009. An attacking midfielder often deployed on the right wing, Gundogan starred for Nuremberg for two seasons, catching the eye of Borussia Dortmund, Schalke’s great rivals, who swooped to sign the then-20-year-old in 2011.