10/17/2013


Real Madrid looking to steal Arsenal & Manchester United’s thunder?


The Daily Express reports that Real Madrid are set to beat Arsenal and Manchester United to the signing of Borussia Dortmund’s German international Ilkay Gundogan. Speculation regarding the 22 year old was rife during the summer transfer window with the former Nurnburg and Bochum player yet to agree a new contract with Dortmund, it looks like an imminent move is certainly on the cards.
The Daily Express cites their Spanish sources in claiming that Real Madrid have been keen on Gundogan for a few months now, and claims that the Spanish giants’ president, Fiorentino Perez, has agreed a deal in principle with the German-Turk and his representatives.  They also claim that, according to Punta Pelota, Perez is set to formalise this with a £25m offer to the German club.

Real will be encouraged in their efforts to sign the player based on their previous business with Dortmund. They still own Nuri Sahin, who is on loan at last seasons Champions League finalists. They will hope that this increases their chances of a deal. Real will also surely hope to capitalise on the numerous German/Turkish connections that the club has enjoyed in recent years.

This connection includes a number of players, and was at its peak during Jose Mourinho’s tenure as manager of Real Madrid. At one point, Hamit Altintop, Nuri Sahin, Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira all represented Los Blancos. All of these players are either German internationals of Turkish origin, or German-Turks who have gone on to represent Turkey.

These players enjoyed varying degrees of success at Real Madrid, but Sami Khedira’s presence at Madrid will certainly help the Spanish club sign Gundogan, his national teammate. Whether the aforementioned Sahin, currently Gundogan’s teammate at Dortmund, will have a positive impression of Real Madrid is another matter. Sahin captained Dortmund to the first of their two recent Bundesliga titles before controversially leaving on a free to join Madrid.

He never settled at Madrid and shortly afterwards returned to Jurgen Klopp’s side on loan. He has never recreated the form that made him one of Europe’s top prospects in the 2010-11 season. Gundogan was signed very cheaply from Nurnburg as Sahin’s direct replacement, and has since eclipsed him, and currently has a higher status at the Westfalen stadium club.

Gundogan must think carefully about a potential move to Real. He would risk perfectly recreating Sahin’s loss of form. For Dortmund, it would be another heartbreaking loss of one of the core players of this wonderful generation, after losing Mario Goetze to Bayern Munich in the summer, and most probably losing Robert Lewandowski in January, again to their Bundesliga rivals.
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