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Turkish giants Galatasaray are working on a deal to sign Ilkay Gundogan from Manchester City and face a key deadline to get the signing over the line.
Galatasaray have until 11pm tomorrow to complete a deal for Ilkay Gundogan if they want to register the midfielder in their squad for the Champions League.
The Turkish giants are thrashing out a deal with City to sign the 34-year-old. With the transfer window in Turkey open until September 12, the club don't face the same time constraints as many European clubs.
But Galatasaray are still up against it thanks to UEFA's deadline for submitting squads for the eight-game league phase of the Champions League.
Squad lists must be submitted to UEFA by midnight CET on Tuesday, which is 11pm in England and 1am Wednesday morning in Istanbul. Galatasaray will be looking to sign Gundogan in time to feature in the Champions League for them.
That could mean an early return to the Etihad for the midfielder, with City welcoming Galatasaray on the final match day of the league phase on January 28. Okan Buruk's side also play Eintracht Frankfurt, Liverpool, Bodo/Glimt, Ajax, Union Saint-Gilloise, Monaco and Atletico Madrid in the league phase.
Gundogan has been linked with a move for most of the summer, with his return to the club from Barcelona a year ago not working out. He is yet to play a single minute in the Premier League this season and wasn't even in the matchday squad to face Tottenham.
Gundogan activated a one-year extension to his contract in April after triggering a clause in the deal that automatically extended his stay at the club for another 12 months, but it didn't secure his future ahead of what was always going to be a busy summer.
He re-signed for the club after just one year with Barcelona and struggled to rediscover the form he had shown before leaving for the Nou Camp in 2023.
Pep Guardiola has wanted to reduce the size of his squad throughout the summer, and Gundogan could follow Ederson and Manuel Akanji out the door in the final hours of the summer window. Ederson is set for a move to Fenerbahce, and Akanji is joining Inter Milan on loan.
The departures of Akanji and Gundogan will mean Guardiola doesn’t have to leave any senior players out of Champions League squad, with UEFA rules limiting City to 17 non-homegrown players in the squad they must also submit by Tuesday’s deadline.
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