Exit the original. Ilkay Gundogan was Pep Guardiola’s first signing at Manchester City. If it was a way of setting a tone for a regime, bringing in a passer who belongs in the highest bracket of technical talents, Gundogan leaves as the symbol of a historic high. He often had timing, whether in the way he picked out teammates or, in recent years, as he calculated his arrival into the penalty box to perfection, and very few have ever orchestrated a goodbye as remarkable as the German’s.
There were two trophies in his last two games; but for Arsenal’s end-of-season relapse, meaning the Premier League was clinched early, it might have been three in three. He nevertheless is the treble-winning captain, the man who lifted City’s first Champions League trophy. Successive Saturdays brought twin places in history, after the 13-second screamer from 25 yards gave him the quickest goal ever in an FA Cup final. There has been a solitary Manchester derby in an FA Cup final, and Gundogan decided it with a double. A fifth Premier League in six seasons owed something to his May surge, to the back-to-back braces against Leeds and Everton. His improvised, exceptional opener at Goodison Park was arguably the goal of the season, though perhaps he had enough honours without it.
