Ilkay Gundogan, whose biography and sports career is described in this article, is a well-known German football player, a bronze medalist of the European Championship. Now stands for the English club Manchester City.
Biography
Gundogan Ilkai David was born in October 1990 in the German city of Gelsenkirchen. Here he began to attend the football section. At the age of eight, Ilkay decided to try his hand at Schalke Academy, but could not resist there.
In 2005, Gundogan attracted attention from the Bokhum breeders, who invited him to the youth team. Three years later, after graduating from the academy, the young football player signed his first contract with the Bochum club.
Professional career
A promising midfielder did not stay long in “Bochum”. Despite the fact that he only twice went to the football field, he liked the Nuremberg breeders. At the end of the season, Ilkay Gundogan moved to the Second Bundesliga club for only 850 thousand euros.
In the first championship for himself in “Nuremberg” 19-year-old did his best to help his team return to the elite division of Germany. He did it. In the 2009/10 season, Gundogan firmly entrenched in the main team of “Nuremberg”, played in 25 matches and scored 5 goals.
After a successful season, many eminent European teams began to show interest in Ilkay, including Bayer, Chelsea and Manchester United. But the Dortmund Borussia turned out to be the most annoying, which signed a midfielder for 4 million euros.
The debut of Ilkai Gundogan in the new team was relatively successful. In the match for the German Super Cup against Schalke, his exact shot from the 11-meter mark in the penalty shoot-out did not help the Dortmund club win this trophy.
Gundogan pretty quickly fit into the team game of “Borussia”. In its composition, he made the “Golden Double” - became the champion and owner of the German Cup, and also became a member of the UEFA Champions League final.
Unfortunately, due to a back injury, Ilkay Gundogan practically did not enter the field next season. He resumed the fight for a place in the first team only in the 2014/15 season. But in 2016, the midfielder moved to Manchester City for 27 million euros. In total, in the Dortmund Borussia, he played in 105 fights, in which he scored 10 goals.
In Manchester City, Ilkay Gundogan also started well. Particularly striking for the German midfielder stood out the game in the group stage of the Champions League against “Barcelona”, where he took a double, and “Citizens” won 3-1.
However, in December, in a game against Watford, Ilkai injured his knee ligaments and dropped out before the end of the championship. He returned to the field only in September 2017.
Performances for the German national team
Like most young promising German football players, Gyugdogan went through all the teams - from U-18 to the national team.
The debut in the main team for the midfielder was the game against Belgium in the selection for the European Championship. As a result, Ilkai Gundogan went to Euro 2012, but he never entered the field. However, as part of the German national team, he became the bronze medalist of this tournament.