You would be forgiven for thinking that Ilkay Gundogan has passed away, given the bizarre reaction from the Manchester City team when he picked up an injury earlier this season.

However, he’s alive and well.

Gundogan plays for the blues but once came close to signing for United, although he didn’t get what he wanted.

“Maybe last year it was close,” he revealed. “But not everything happened like I wanted it to.”

Now at City, Gundogan has claimed in an interview with ESPN that his club are aspiring to match Manchester United and become a big club.

That [matching United] is what we try to achieve. We have big targets. We have things we want to achieve. We just started, you know, it’s a long process. We want to get better year by year, and we are working on it — to lift up the club to higher levels. If the club is successful, we will be successful as well.