Ilkay Gundogan to miss Man City's US tour due to vaccination status

Ilkay Gundogan will miss Manchester City’s pre-season tour of the United States because he has only received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

The Sunday Telegraph has been told Gundogan, who caught Covid-19 in September 2020, had his first Covid-19 jab last summer and was deemed fully vaccinated in his native Germany due to previous infection.

Foreign visitors entering the United States, however, are required to have had two doses of vaccine and Gundogan had planned to get a second jab in order to travel there only to contract the disease again last month.

Doctors advised him to wait three months after recovering from the virus before proceeding.

The 31-year-old is one of three City players reportedly missing the US tour along with England pair John Stones and Phil Foden, although the club has not given reasons why the two others are not travelling. 

The trio are said to be flying with City’s Under-23 squad to Croatia today on Sunday to continue their preparations for the new season.

City’s US tour will see them play pre-season friendlies against Mexican side Club America in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday and Bayern Munich in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Saturday.

They then return home for a showdown with FA Cup holders Liverpool in the Community Shield a week later.

They are not the only club whose pre-season plans have been disrupted by players failing to meet entry requirements to countries they are touring post-pandemic.

Chelsea confirmed last week that N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek would miss their own trip to the US due to their vaccination status, with Crystal Palace forced to leave behind several players from their tour of Singapore and Australia for reasons ranging from entry requirements to injury.

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