Pep Guardiola has found his perfect Ilkay Gundogan replacement at Man City

Manchester City spent much of the summer asking a single question: 'How do you replace Ilkay Gundogan?'

It's a simple question to ask, but it's not such an easy thing to answer. City are no strangers to waving goodbye to legends. Every single summer of Pep Guardiola's reign has seen at least one crucial player or fan favourite depart.

But unlike Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Fernandinho, Gundogan was still absolutely crucial to the side. While the rest had passed their peaks, the German was playing the best football of an already distinguished career.

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Gundogan was pivotal to the treble triumph, even without his important goals in the Premier League run-in and winning brace in the FA Cup final. He was the captain of the side, the one still starting a few days after the exhausting Champions League knock-out ties, Guardiola's most trusted lieutenant on the pitch, the grease that kept the machine running smoothly.

Perhaps the biggest difference of all is that Guardiola was desperate to keep Gundogan. The manager would have loved to keep Kompany when he decided to return to Belgium but the centre-back wouldn't have been a regular starter and retired within a year but, for the rest, it was accepted it was time to move on.

Guardiola went on record multiple times with his desire for Gundogan to stay. It was obvious how difficult it would be to find a player capable of doing all he could. The subtle positioning, the task of linking the midfield and attack, defensive and offensive contributions, control of possession and versatility. Gundogan was immense at so much and a lot of that came