In an interview with the Daily Mail, Ilkay Gundogan's partner said: "When I was in Manchester, my whole life was (originally) around football. My friends were football, the people I met through my husband, and then I didn't have anything that was just my world outside of that. And I'm a social person. So it took me a bit of time, but I made friends and it was really nice. After making friends, I was really happy. I had my own life and routine in Manchester and I have one of my best friends there."
She added: "Over the years I would see friends moving so it's something that's always around in football and you would suddenly just have a phone call from them telling you they're going to another country. So, it's always around, it's always happening but I didn't imagine that it would be us and when it's you it's big a shock. It's always sad, especially because you make friends, you're happy somewhere, you build your life and then you have to leave all the people you love. I started to enjoy everything and I kind of miss Manchester now."