Ilkay Gundogan moves closer to Manchester United deal

Ilkay Gundogan has ended talks with Bayern Munich according to German newspaper Bild. They claim that talks had been at an advanced stage regarding a money plus player deal between Borussia Dortmund and their big rivals, but that always seemed to be speculation based on what had been speculated in German magazines, especially the idea of a player being involved. Speculation built on speculation

. Bild have always loved pushing the idea of Gundigan to Bayern Munich because in Germany it was a much bigger story than any of the other options available to Gundogan.

It's claimed that a move to Bayern Munich has broken down for two reasons, one of those is finances with the Gundogan family said to be asking for too much money. The other issue is that not everyone at Bayern Munich really wanted the midfielder and that included manager Pep Guardiola, which sounds pretty important and would make one further doubt that negotiations were at an advanced stage. One of those statements surely has to be false, it's hard to see Bayern Munich signing a player Guardiola didn't want at this stage.

Bild mention Barcelona again in their article but rightly say the Catalan club's transfer ban would make things difficult. And that brings everything back to Manchester United. Der Westen newspaper were at the weekend again insistent that Manchester United remained the most likely option for Gundogan and reiterated that a deal to take him to the Old Trafford was largely agreed.