On first hearing of the link, I greeted it with scepticism: since Klopp’s arrival it seems we have been linked with almost every German international, regardless of whether they worked with Jürgen in the past or not.
Gündogan, Bender, Hector, Ter Stegen, even Hummels on an emergency loan, have all been linked with the reds since Klopp’s arrival. The apparent signing of German stars has become almost ubiquitous, until they fizzle out and fail to materialise after a few newspaper headlines.
The connection with Götze, however, does appear to have rather more substance to it – outlets as varied as the Guardian to Sky Sports have published articles suggesting the German international could be on his way to Anfield; the rumour is not disappearing, its gaining strength.
Given the seemingly strong suggestions of his transfer, it is worth considering the merits he would bring to the Liverpool side. He is – undoubtedly – a player of supreme quality, having played exceptionally well for Klopp’s Dortmund side, for the German national team and, on occasions, for Bayern too.
It was at Borussia Dortmund that he really established himself as a special talent, forging a ruthless partnership with Marco Reus (how ironic it would be, that after months and years of speculation linking Reus with LFC, if it were his ex-Dortmund associate who was to complete the move). Götze has proved his worth in numerous positions: the number 10 play-maker role, on the wing, and even up front as a central striker, where he has played regularly for Germany.
His positional versatility would be a potentially important factor: given he burst on to the scene as a playmaker, one would expect that to be his strongest position, but, at Liverpool, with Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana already deployed in varying deviations of the orthodox number 1o position, would it be realistic for Götze to be accommodated also? It would perhaps be more likely for him to be utilised in his other positional berths.
Perhaps Klopp values him as a winger – the boss has spoken of his desire to improve the team’s width, with Lazar Markovic apparently to be given another chance to prove his worth at Anfield. Maybe Götze could utilise his speed, agility and technical ability on the flank, supplementing Coutinho and co.’s wizardry through the middle.
This suggestion, however, assumes Götze would be happy playing on the wing; how many players do you hear of complaining about being stuck out on the flank, their assets hamstrung by their positional requirements, desperate for the opportunity to operate through the middle. If this were the case, perhaps a striking role would be appropriate. He has functioned as a central striker at an international level, scoring 17 goals in 50 appearances for Germany.
Regardless of the position found for him, and the tactical compromises that would be required to be made with other players in the squad, I would welcome Götze’s arrival at Anfield. He is an excellent player, internationally acclaimed, league winning experience as part of his repertoire and he has worked with Klopp before hand – contributing to great success at Borussia Dortmund. For such reasons, one would have to welcome him into the squad with open arms – its not very often your team signs the player who scored the winning goal in the preceding World Cup, at the end of the day.
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