MANCHESTER - Ilkay Gundogan admitted that he had almost joined Manchester United (MU). However, he chose to defend Manchester City nearly five years ago.

He admitted that he had talked with his former teammate at Borussia Dortmund, Shinji Kagawa, who was once in a MU uniform. However, he decided to join a rival team.

"That's right. There were negotiations for two to three years before deciding to move to City," Gundogan told Sky Sport , quoted by Tribalfootball , Saturday (27/2).

After discussing with Kagawa, he noticed MU's style of play via video. The German player admitted that he was interested but Dortmund didn't want to let him go.