Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that he is keen for Ilkay Gundogan to put pen to paper on a new deal at the Etihad Stadium.
The German midfielder, brought to City in a £20m deal from Borussia Dortmund in 2016, is due to be out of contract at the end of next season.
Gundogan has left the Citizens sweating over his future as he confessed at the weekend that he is not against the idea of running down his contract and exploring other options in a year's time.
Guardiola hopes to convince the 28-year-old to stay on, however, telling reporters: "We would like to [extend] but it depends on the club and him so I don't know. Hopefully he can stay.
"I would prefer him to stay but at the same time I want to feel he wants to stay too. If he doesn't want to stay he has to leave. But we would like to continue. Next season he has a contract and a longer time together.
"I said before if he wants to stay, we will talk to him and we can sign the contract. We signed the contract with Kevin [De Bruyne] in a few days, with other players, with Gabriel [Jesus]. But he doesn't want right now so we will wait. When he wants it, we will be here."
Gundogan has been used in 36 of Man City's matches this season, starting 23 of those.
Daniel Lewis
