Xavi is pushing for Barcelona to sign Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer this summer, according to reports.
The 32-year-old is out of contract with the Premier League champions at the end of the season and is yet to reach an agreement over a new deal.
has made it clear that he wants Gundogan to remain at City and said last week that the Germany international has been the ‘best midfielder we have this season’.
According to , City face strong competition from Barcelona who are pushing hard to sign Gundogan this summer.
The report claims that Xavi has made a ‘special request’ to Barca’s hierarchy for Gundogan’s arrival.
Meanwhile, La Liga president Javier Tebas has already warned Barcelona that they must cut their wage bill in order to be able to sign new players this summer.
‘We have strict economic controls. At the end of each window, we tell all the clubs in LaLiga what they can spend,’ .
‘In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop from spending on wages and transfers from €650m to €450m – so it’s a budget of minus €200m.
‘They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because for every amount they raise in sales they can spend 40 per cent of that.’
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