From 'washed up' to wonderful... the rebirth of Man City star Ilkay Gundogan

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

straight to your inboxNot bad for a player who said, three years ago, that his ravaged knees meant he could never again be the same man.Ilkay Gundogan has lit up Manchester City’s surge to the top of the Premier League with a remarkable return of seven goals in his last eight games.But this is a player who had to stop ‘shooting in’ during warm-ups to protect a knee that had twice been wrecked and patched up again.A player who admitted that the very sight of younger teammates smashing the ball goalwards as practice filled him with horror, and who started going to the gym to loosen up before training, so concerned was he that his body might not hold up to the rigours of the Premier League.All that led many fans to believe Gundogan was washed.