Frankfurt midfielder Mario Götze has spoken out about rejecting Liverpool’s approaches for him and has admitted it may have been the ‘wrong decision’.
Götze recently completed a move to Europa League champions, Frankfurt, having spent two years at PSV Eindhoven.
As a youngster, Götze was tipped to be one of the best players in world football, but an injury-hampered career has meant that he hasn't quite hit the heights that were expected of him.
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For many players, scoring the winning goal in the World Cup final would be enough to call it a successful career.
But the 30-year-old will likely be disappointed with how it has all panned out.
The German international began his career at Borussia Dortmund where he was coached by the current Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp.
Götze moved to Bayern in 2013 following a successful spell at Dortmund, but injuries plagued his three year spell in Munich and he only featured 73 times in 3 seasons.
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Liverpool were reportedly interested in bringing Götze to the club in 2016, but the World Cup winner rejected Klopp’s advances in favour of a move back to Thomas Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund.
Speaking to SportBild, Götze had this to say about a potential move to Liverpool in 2016:
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“Liverpool had finished eighth in their first season with Jürgen and had not qualified for the Champions League. Even in previous years, it wasn’t the club that always played at the top.
“Dortmund had previously played a top season under Thomas Tuchel. BVB was on the up."
"Jürgen was still building something. In retrospect you have to say: Liverpool would’ve been better.”
Klopp turned talents like Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino into world class players during his time at the Reds, and you’d expect he would have done the same with Mario Götze .
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In hindsight, a player with injury problems like Götze would not necessarily have been a good fit in Jürgen Klopp’s high intensity, pressing system and could have struggled, had he moved to Anfield in 2016.
Topics: Mario Gotze, Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, Germany, Eintracht Frankfurt
Will Beaman