Ilkay Gundogan spread shocking news around the world when he announced that the player was going to leave defending Champions League winner Manchester City for free to join Barcelona in the last summer transfer window. Many reports also stated then that his decision was largely influenced by his beloved wife, Sarah Gundogan.
Ilkay Gundogan’s wife, Sarah, has recently expressed her opinions about living the life of a WAG, the wife/girlfriend of a high-profile athlete or player. She also expressed her love for Manchester in the same interaction and the words have excited fans all around the world.
Sarah opens up about the consequences of marrying Ilkay Gundogan
Ilkay Gundogan’s wife, Sarah Gundogan, previously known as Sarah Arfaoui, was a highly successful TV presenter and model before marrying the German star in 2022. She has been featured in several films and reality TV shows, but she had to sacrifice all of this after her marriage as she had to handle her personal life with her family.
She is currently one of the stars of Prime Video’s new series “Married to the Game” which follows the lives of five football WAGs, showing the reality of dating a high-profile footballer.
Speaking to Mail Sport, the former Reality TV star opened up about her struggles and sacrifices after marrying the Barcelona midfielder.
“As a wife sometimes you are on the side. But it was hard because despite my work as a TV presenter, the fact I speak six languages and traveled the world as a model, when I was him, everything I did, suddenly became zero and I just became his wife.”
“The people knew me before as a media star but when I became a wife, there is the tendency of the press to show wives of players in a certain way and it’s like we have to fit this cliche.”
“I lost a bit of my spontaneity, my way of speaking without thinking. So yeah, it’s a bit hard, because you have to also rebuild yourself and find your own identity.”
“It’s kind of sad because there is no other sport, there is nothing similar, say in cinema or politics, that will describe the wife of an important politician that way.”
The former model also described the outside perception of being a WAG as false and opened up about refusing so many opportunities to maintain family balance.
“It’s tough because I have given up so much. The hard part is always people tend to imagine we have everything because we are with this successful man.”
“But a successful man has his career. He is successful. It doesn’t bring success to you. Looking at yourself in the mirror and feeling like I’m doing something is a much nicer feeling than just having a lifestyle because of someone else.”
“Doing things by yourself and being successful is more important than having material things. It’s important to be proud of myself and you cannot be proud of yourself when you’re not doing work.”
These reports came after Barcelona’s gruesome 3-3 draw against Granada in which Lamine Yamal unsurprisingly shined as always and Gundogan gave another assist to take his tally to his career-best 10 in a single season.
Ilkay Gundogan’s wife misses Manchester
When Ilkay Gundogan joined Barcelona in the summer, many reports came out that the decision of the German star was heavily influenced by his wife Sarah, who in her early days also stated that she wasn’t able to find nice food in Manchester and that she wasn’t liking the city that well.
“Sorry, I’m sad, to be honest, but nothing. I tried so hard to find a good restaurant but horrible food everywhere.”
“Can’t find a real Italian or good sushi or just fresh food… everything frozen. Restaurants here are focused [sic] on making money with drinks and shots like nightclubs, not quality food. Maybe in London but in Manchester nothing. I’m sorry.”
But recent reports from Daily Mail have proved contradictory to the previous reports as in it, the former TV presenter can be seen expressing his love for the city of Manchester and how much she misses it after moving to Barcelona just like the player was emotional while leaving his former club as well.
“When I was in Manchester, my whole life was around football. My friends were football, the people I met through my husband, and then I didn’t have anything that was just my world outside of that.”
“And I’m a social person. So it took me a bit of time, but I made friends and it was nice. After making friends, I was really happy. I had my own life and routine in Manchester and I have one of my best friends there.”
“Over the years I would see friends moving so it’s something that’s always around in football and you would suddenly just have a phone call from them telling you they’re going to another country. So, it’s always around, it’s always happening but I didn’t imagine that it would be us and when it’s you it’s big a shock.”
“It’s always sad, especially because you make friends, you’re happy somewhere, you build your life and then you have to leave all the people you love.”
“I started to enjoy everything and I kind of miss Manchester now.”
These words by Sarah might have been her honest opinion but it has divided the fanbase around the world about the reality of Gundogan’s move to Barcelona since the club is still suffering poorly with the manager Xavi already announcing his departure at the end of the current season.
Do you think these words could impact Ilkay Gundogan’s performance on the pitch or is it just an honest opinion of every woman living a WAG lifestyle? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
