Borussia Dortmund reacted coolly on Sunday to reports Germany international Ilkay Gundogan is set to join Manchester City next season to work with Pep Guardiola.
Both German daily Bild and UK tabloid The Sun claim the 25-year-old defensive midfielder will leave at the end of the season and has already signed a five-year contract with City.
“I only learnt about this myself from the newspapers,” said Dortmund’s director of sport Michael Zorc before Sunday’s 3-0 league win at home to Hamburg.
“It’s nice when you learn about something like this in this manner,” he added with sarcasm.
“We don’t comment on transfer rumours.”
Bild reported that Gundogan has already signed a City contract until June 2021.
The Sun say the deal will be announced at the end of the season with Gundogan, who has one year left on his Dortmund contract, set to cost City between 30-37 million euros $34-42 million).
On March 7, Bayern Munich coach Guardiola, who will take over at the Etihad Stadium next season, met City’s director of sport Txiki Begiristain in Amsterdam.
Ilhan Gundogan, the uncle and advisor of the Germany international, was also in the Dutch city and was photographed meeting Begiristain.
