Ilkay Gundogan is a midfield "heavyweight" and his arrival at Barcelona will raise the level of team-mates including Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and Gavi.
That is the view of Barca great Hristo Stoichkov, who is excited by the prospect of the former Manchester City captain slotting into Xavi's title-winning side.
Barca won LaLiga for the first time since Lionel Messi's 2021 departure last season, with a young Blaugrana team finishing 10 points clear of rivals Real Madrid.
Gundogan joined Barca on a free transfer in June after helping City become just the second side to win a Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble, and Stoichkov hopes his experience will benefit younger team-mates.
"I think it's fantastic because he's a great player," Stoichkov told Stats Perform. "I have always liked Gundogan as a player since he did it in Dortmund, then at City and also with his national team.
"He is a great professional and I think he will help a lot with his experience because Barcelona have a young team.
"Frenkie De Jong, Pedri, Gavi, [Alejandro] Balde, [Ronald] Araujo and Ansu Fati are young and having a heavyweight in the squad can help them grow."
Gundogan will have to wait for his Camp Nou debut, with Barca due to play their home games at the Estadi Olimpic while their famous home is renovated next season.
President Joan Laporta pledged to create "the best stadium in the world" as the project began in May, and Stoichkov says the work – which will include the construction of a new roof – is overdue.
"For me Camp Nou is a myth and not only from my time, but since it was built in 1957," he said. "The greatest players, coaches and presidents in history have passed through that stadium.
"It is a symbol and a temple of world football. When I arrived at Barcelona in 1990 and left at such a huge moment and with 120,000 people shouting my name, it will always remain in my memory.
"But it is obvious that after so many years a remodelling is necessary, and Camp Nou needed something new.
"Thank God, Laporta in his second stage as president has managed to rebuild Camp Nou and do something new. Barcelona needed it, Catalonia needed it, FC Barcelona needed it.
"I will always have good memories. I recently sent some friends to collect a piece of the grass, a stone and a seat so that I can put them in my museum because it was very important in my career.
"I will always remember my first goal for Barcelona at Camp Nou against Valencia, when we won 3-1. When I saw 120,000 people shouting my name, I realised Camp Nou was a temple."
Stoichkov – who won five league titles and the 1991-92 European Cup during his time with Barca – hopes the modernisation helps the club return to the top of the continental game.
"We must recognise it is the modern era," he added. "I played in very old stadiums in England, Germany, France, Italy and Spain and today there are new cycles, new presidents, new players and everyone wanted something new.
"Obviously when you have a first-level stadium, you like to enjoy it. This is a time when Barcelona are building a new field and a new team so that in a few years, they can win the Champions League again, which is a great wish I have."
Leverkusen star Wirtz named Bundesliga Player of the Year
Florian Wirtz played a starring role for Bayer Leverkusen this season and has been named the Bundesliga Player of the Year.
Wirtz scored 11 goals and provided a further 11 assists on the way to helping Leverkusen win their first-ever top-flight title.
The forward was pivotal in Leverkusen’s title charge as they became the first German team to complete an unbeaten season.
Only Victor Boniface has scored more goals than Wirtz this campaign, netting 14 times, while his tally of 11 assists is second only to Alejandro Grimaldo (13) across the Bundesliga.
Wirtz came off the bench to score a hat-trick in Leverkusen’s 5-0 win over Werder Bremen in April which clinched the title with five games remaining.
The Bundesliga champions still have the German Cup final on Saturday against Kaiserslautern, which follows the Europa League final against Atalanta on Wednesday.
Wirtz played a critical role in helping Leverkusen reach their third European final, having been involved in eight goals in the Europa League this season (four goals, four assists), the most of any player in the team.
He has also created 28 chances from open play in the competition, a tally only five players can better in a Europa League campaign, most recently Amin Younes for Ajax in 2016-17 (30).
In all competitions, Leverkusen’s unbeaten run stretches to 51 matches, as they aim to finish an unbeaten season with a treble.
Kane injury doubt for England Euro 2024 squad
Harry Kane may be a doubt for England’s Euro 2024 squad as he continues to struggle with a back problem.
Gareth Southgate is due to name his preliminary squad for Euro 2024 on Tuesday, ahead of upcoming friendlies against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland.
The England captain missed the final two Bundesliga games of the season after going off towards the end of Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid.
Thomas Tuchel confirmed prior to their final match against Hoffenheim that Kane was back in England to undergo treatment.
When later asked again about the nature of the striker’s injury, Tuchel admitted that Kane had been struggling for a couple of weeks.
"In Madrid, it was borderline. We tried injections and treatments. The back has completely closed.
"It has gotten worse and kept breaking out in small, everyday movements. There's no chance he's even training."
Kane scored 36 league goals in his debut campaign for Bayern, though due to the injury, he finished five adrift of Robert Lewandowski’s single-season goal record of 41, set in 2019-20.
The final announcement of Southgate's 26-man squad will be revealed on June 7, ahead of the tournament opener against Serbia on June 16.
Pochettino prioritising continuity as Chelsea draw up transfer plans
Mauricio Pochettino feels continuity will be key for Chelsea ahead of his second season in charge, ruling out the prospect of another clear-out at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea clinched European qualification on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday, a 2-1 win over Bournemouth ensuring they beat Newcastle United and Manchester United to sixth place.
The Blues finished the campaign with five straight victories, the first time they have achieved that feat since doing so in March 2022 under Thomas Tuchel.
A positive end to Pochettino's debut campaign has quietened talk of his job being under threat, and he wants to see evolution rather than revolution ahead of 2024-25.
"Does the club need new signings? Always, you can improve," Pochettino said after Sunday's victory.
"They are going to be much better next season because they will have one year of experience, a tough experience.
"That is the advantage of being solid and consistent and not making too many changes.
"Next season, if we keep 80 to 85 per cent of the squad, for sure it is a big step forward because it is about having continuity in the ideas and the knowledge between them. That is important for the club.
"That is a club decision. Like it was from the beginning, we [the coaching staff] are going to be there to help and if not, we are going to do our job."
Chelsea only lost one of their final 15 matches of the Premier League season (nine wins, five draws), with that defeat coming by a 5-0 scoreline at Arsenal in April.
Only Manchester City, Arsenal (16 each) and Liverpool (12) won more Premier League games than Chelsea's 10 between the turn of the year and the end of the campaign, with their total of 43 goals in that time ranking them fifth among all teams in the division.
Chelsea's overall tally of 77 goals in 2023-24 was their third-most in a Premier League season, behind only their title-winning campaigns of 2009-10 (103) and 2016-17 (85).
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