Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp knows Mario Gotze well from their time at Borussia Dortmund – could the Reds manager take a chance on him at Anfield this summer?
Mario Gotze, a player very fond of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, looks set to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season, according to a report in German outlet Bild.
Klopp managed the 63-capped Germany international during his time in charge at Dortmund prior to the player’s departure to Bayern Munich in 2013, before making his return to Signal Iduna Park three years later for a reported £19.8million (Transfermarkt).
Gotze, who scored the winner in the 2014 World Cup final, has been limited to a bit-part role this season by head coach Lucien Favre, who has bolstered his attacking ranks further this month with Erling Braut Haaland joining from Red Bull Salzburg.
According to Bild, Gotze was unwilling to take a 30 percent pay cut to extend his stay at the Bundesliga side, and with his contract running out in the summer, the 27-year-old is likely to leave them a second time.
Gotze gets on well with Klopp, even when the two were no longer colleagues, and told Bild in an interview in April last year: “[Klopp] knew that I wanted to leave Bayern.
“Of course, we talked. He knows me very well and that I am always looking for new challenges. I often speak to Klopp. He brought me to the first team when I was 17 and he made it all possible. We never stopped talking.”
Whether Klopp would find room in the Liverpool squad for Gotze is unclear, but given the good working relationship the two have had in the past, not to mention potentially being able to snap him up for free, surely that would give the Reds boss food for thought?
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