Guardiola unsure if he can persuade Man City star to stay

Matt Stead

Pep Guardiola has spoken out on the contract situation with Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.

Gundogan is out of contract in 2020 and has thus far resisted any attempts to extend his stay at the Etihad Stadium.

Guardiola is hopeful of convincing the Germany international to stay, but accepts Gundogan “has to leave” if he wants to.

“I said in the press conference we would like to but it depends on the club and him so I don’t know,” Guardiola said.

“Hopefully he can stay. I would prefer him to stay but at the same time I want to feel he wants to stay too.

“If he doesn’t want to stay he has to leave. But we would like to continue. Next season he has a contract and a longer time together.

“I said before if he wants to stay, we will talk to him and we can sign the contract.

“We signed the contract with Kevin [De Bruyne] in a few days, with other players, with Gabriel [Jesus]. But he doesn’t want right now so we will wait.

“When he wants it, we will be here.”