Manchester City’s German midfielder Ilkay Gündoğan burst onto the scene around this time last year with his consistent match-winning performances leading City’s title charge.
The former Dortmund man saw his fan-following and reputation blow up globally, as he became a key cog in the middle of the park for Pep Guardiola’s unstoppable team.
Recently, the Gelsenkirchen-born 31-year-old opened up on Twitter in a Q&A session with his fans under the tag #AskIlkay, which included some rather interesting responses among others.
Hardest midfield opponent
Being a midfielder, it was but natural that the German would be asked about the toughest midfield opponent he has faced in his career.
Gündoğan’s response was perhaps just as predictable, as he declared that N’Golo Kante’s strength and ability to cover the entire field makes the Frenchman an ‘unbelievable’ player to compete against.
I would say N’Golo Kante. He’s really strong, the amount of work that he puts into the game, it’s just unbelievable… https://t.co/dVPLBf7AJY
— Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) January 13, 2022
KDB or Ozil
Continuing the discussion about midfielders, he was asked by a fan to pick between City teammate Kevin de Bruyne and former Germany international Mesut Ozil.
As an answer, Gündoğan heralded both as the two best playmakers in the Premier League, while also stating that KDB was inclined more towards the finishing, rather than the creation of chances, which Ozil specialises in.
Long balls, crossing and goal scoring ability: KDB 🇧🇪
— Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) January 13, 2022
Vision, technique, passing: M1Ö 🇩🇪🇹🇷
Both maybe the two best playmakers the Premier League has ever seen 🙏🏼 https://t.co/pxTOVr6qUa
Messi or Ronaldo
The comparison among the best in the world continued when the City fans wanted to know their star’s opinion on the common Messi or Ronaldo debate.
Perhaps being a technically-gifted midfielder in a Pep Guardiola team makes you understand just how difficult it is what Leo Messi does on a consistent basis, and so Gündoğan says he still favours the Argentine.
Is it possible to go through a Twitter Q&A without this question?😅I still go for Messi … 🤷🏻♂️ https://t.co/2YvvyHljgp
— Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) January 13, 2022
Top 3 players at the moment
In another interesting question, the German was asked about his top 3 players in the world at the moment, to which he replied as former Dortmund teammate Robert Lewandowski, Egyptian hero Mo Salah and in-form Madrid striker Karim Benzema.
Lewy 🇵🇱, Salah 🇪🇬, Benzema 🇫🇷 https://t.co/x3I6Qiutcl
— Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) January 13, 2022
In what was an interesting insight into the unbiased thoughts of a Premier League professional, Gündoğan must be appreciated for the honesty and simplicity in his answers, especially in today’s world where they have become pretty rare qualities among the elite.
We hope he continues to excel at the topmost level for many years to come.
