Guardiola pushing to keep Man City captain amid interest from Barcelona – report

With Barcelona set to make preparations for their summer transfer window, the club has shortlisted a bunch of priorities that will help strengthen the most weakened areas of the squad.

Following the departure of Sergio Busquets and the absence of solid midfield depth, Xavi came out to claim that an interior, a pivot and a striker remain the top priorities for the club.

Intensive links tying Ilkay Gundogan to Barcelona continue to persist. The German is nearing the end of his contract and will be a free agent in the summer transfer window. On a free transfer, he has been deemed Xavi’s ideal preference to fill in the need for an additional midfielder.

However, according to Relevo (H/T Reshad Rehman), Pep has requested that City work harder to extend Gundogan’s contract.

The Manchester City captain recently concluded his season as a treble-winner, leading his side to a remarkable victory over Inter in the Champions League final.

While Gundogan is 32 and does not have many years left at the elite level, his contributions to the Cityzens were crucial over the previous campaign and thus make his departure an unfavourable situation for Pep Guardiola.

As Barcelona already missed out on Lionel Messi’s signature, who has officially joined Inter Miami, the Blaugrana are in dire need of acquiring a midfielder to play in Xavi’s new box midfield module.

Gundogan perfectly fits the mould and, more importantly, offers a leadership presence.

At the same time, the German international is bound to be motivated by a change in scenery, having won all there is to win at Manchester City. Despite City’s insistence on retaining the player, the likelihood of seeing Gundogan at the Catalan club is not a far fetch.

Xavi even recently claimed, “Since I became Barça coach, no player has ever rejected me. No one has said no to Barcelona. Then there are other circumstances that interfere, but they all want to play for Barça.”