It’s difficult not to feel sorry for Manchester City’s İlkay Gündoğan.
The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder appears set for another lengthy spell on the sidelines after sustaining knee ligament damage in City’s midweek victory over Watford, just months after recovering from the dislocated patella that delayed his debut for Pep Guardiola’s side.
The German international – who also missed over a year of football after picking up a back injury at the start of the 2013/14 season – has impressed in his early weeks at the Etihad, and his teammates were keen to show him that their thoughts were with him as he begins his recovery.
As they walked out on to the Etihad field ahead of their match with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, each City player wore a shirt bearing Gündoğan’s name and squad number.
Although many football fans will hope to see the player make a speedy recovery from the injury, many felt the tribute to the him was slightly over the top.
https://twitter.com/_boothoir/status/810516774236078080
Nice touch from City re: Gundogan named shirts. Assuming 'nice touch' means pointlessly over the top gesture for still alive human being.
— Andrew Allen (@AAllenSport) December 18, 2016
Pathetic from Manchester City wearing Gundogan t shirts. He is injured he hasn't died. Embarrassing.
— Barry Dempsey (@barrydempsey2) December 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/KelechiNacho/status/810514198346289153
https://twitter.com/paullawson_/status/810514003944468480
https://twitter.com/lewiscottrill_/status/810513909669130240
https://twitter.com/FawcusJack/status/810517759985586177
Although (as pointed out by the tweets above) the injury isn’t life-threatening, reports have already indicated that Gündoğan is expected to miss the remainder of this season with the injury.
For a player that’s suffered more than his fair share of misfortune with injury, you can understand why his teammates wanted to show that their thoughts were with him.
Needless to say, we hope to see him back in action as soon as possible.
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