Guardiola rages at Barcelona transfer target

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:37 CDT
• 3 min read

Pep Guardiola had a go at Ilkay Gundogan after the German missed a penalty he shouldn't even have been taking in Manchester City's 2-1 win over Leeds on Saturday.

Gundogan was on a hat-trick with City leading 2-0 when Erling Haaland handed him the ball to take an 84th-minute penalty, but the midfielder missed and Leeds duly reduced the arrears through Rodrigo.

Gundogan is out of contract at the end of the season with numerous reports linking him with a Bosman free transfer to Barcelona, and he was inches away from signing off with his first career hat-trick.

READ: Five Man City players who could leave this summer

Haaland has already broken the Premier League record for goals in a single season, meanwhile, having hit 35 from 32 games, so he may have thought he could afford to be generous, but Guardiola didn't agree.

Gundogan: 'he had a go at me'

"First he showed to Erling that he was quite mad about that and then also he had a go at me," Gundogan said of his Catalan coach.

"The moment Erling grabbed the ball, I was sure he was going to take it but he looked out for me. I checked with him a few times to make sure he was sure. He was certain to hand the ball to me and I was confident to score."

READ: Man City star wants Barcelona move

Gundogan may have missed what would have been a 57th career goal for Man City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2016, but there remains a chance he will stay at the Etihad beyond this summer.

Barcelona's financial dire straits mean that they are restricted to signing players on free transfers this summer- of which Gundogan is one - but they have been told to raise €200 million by La Liga whilst their biggest transfer priority is bringing Lionel Messi back to the club from Paris Saint-Germain.