Tuesday, 25th November, 2014



Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has issued a strongly worded statement denying that he has opened the door for a move to the Premier League or La Liga.

Gundogan has been consistently linked with a number of clubs, including Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United.




Transfer chatter has died down in recent months, as Gundogan battled a back injury which saw him miss the majority of last term.

 


Now back and firing, the midfielder is keen to do his bit to clear up speculation he sent out a come-and-get-me plea to suitors.

And he insists Borussia Dortmund are his focus.

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Ilkay Gundogan Letter In Full

Dear friends,

I have been following the media with great astonishment, includig my ALLEGED statements", Gundogan said via Facebook.

First of all I would like to stress that my statements that have been used are only EXTRACTS from a one-hour long interview and they have furthermore been cited incorrectly.

As a result I would like to make an EXCEPTION and take a stand on these rumours, simply for clarification.

I gave a one-hour long interview to the Turkish TV channel TRT 1. During the chat we talked about a variety of subjects – starting with my childhood, my family, career, stages of my life, the rivalry between Dortmund and Schalke, the atmosphere at Signal Iduna Park, Jurgen Klopp, the German national team, my successful time at Dortmund, the Champions League final and finally my injury.

Within the scope of these subjects I was asked if I knew that nearly all top European clubs had me on their radar prior to my injury and especially after the Champions League final – and Real Madrid was said to be one of them amongst others. A question followed as to why a transfer had so far not materialised.

My answer to this question was clear: "There have always been enquiries from various clubs here and there. But moving away has never been my concern as I have still got ambitions with Dortmund. And besides, I replied, I have an ongoing contract with Dortmund and the board have not made any indications with regard to selling me – the exact opposite in fact."

I was then asked if moving abroad could generally be something I would think about.

My reply to this question was clear, too.

"If I was to think about moving abroad one day, then there wouldn't be many clubs that would come into consideration worldwide. As things stand, it could be England or Spain sometime in my career."

The current reports have been created by using these quotes, by showing only excerpts and these are even quoted wrong.

I would like to ask you to ignore these reports. My focus is 100% on Dortmund.

Continue to keep your fingers crossed for us – we need your support. I'm looking forward to the game tomorrow evening at the Emirates.

Yours, Ilkay

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