Real back on the Gündogan chase

Posted Sunday, June 23, 2013 by Marca.com

Friday saw Florentino Pérez ratchet things up several notches in his bid to usher in a new era at Real Madrid, with major inroads made on two deals and a breakthrough coming in another that was believed to be dead in the water.

Ancelotti, Isco and Gündogan took centre stage in a whirlwind 24 hours at the Bernabéu. The most surprising turn of events was the revival of 'Operation Gündogan', which saw the Dortmund midfielder's brother and agent, Ilhan, travel to Madrid on Friday to meet with the 'Los Blancos' officials.

The stage had seemed to be set for the German anchorman to join in 2014. Florentino Pérez first expressed his interest in Gündogan several months ago, only for the Dortmund chairman to ask his Real Madrid counterpart to delay any move for a year. Jürgen Klopp wanted assurances that the team wouldn't be broken up and Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski both looked certain to depart. Real did, however, secure first dibs on a deal for the midfielder for the 2014-15 season.

This situation could now be turned on its head. Lewandowski's chances of moving to Bayern this year are diminishing, meaning Real could push to bring in Gündogan earlier than expected. 'Los Blancos' will, however, have to pay more to land the 22-year-old this summer rather than next.

Gündogan is currently away on holiday in the Balearic Islands with his former Dortmund teammates Götze and Felipe Santana. However, he will have all the details of a possible imminent move relayed to him by his brother, who flew back to Düsseldorf at 3:50 in the afternoon after a productive meeting in Madrid.