Mario Gotze has admitted he made the ‘wrong decision’ by not joining Liverpool when he had the chance to during Jurgen Klopp’s early days at Anfield.
Gotze was heavily linked with a Liverpool transfer in 2016 during Klopp’s first summer in charge of the Reds, having replaced Brendan Rodgers the previous autumn.
The attacking midfielder had famously made his name playing for Klopp at Borussia Dortmund, where he won back-to-back Bundesliga titles and helped the club reach the 2013 Champions League final against Bayern Munich – injury ruled him out of the game at Wembley.
Before that Champions League final, Gotze had already agreed a €37m switch to Bayern, while he then went on to score the winning goal in the World Cup final the following year.
But injury cost him a regular place at Bayern during the 2015/16 campaign and he departed the club that summer. Liverpool were an option, but instead there was a return to Dortmund. Fitness problems, later revealed to be caused by metabolic illness, ultimately served to limit his chance.
Gotze has revealed that he remains in contact with Klopp even now, and, looking back, he suggested he should have taken the chance to go to Liverpool.
“We are still in touch and we spoke back then about me coming to Liverpool. But I wasn’t in a state of mind where I could consider it, that’s why it didn’t happen,” Gotze, now 29, told the Daily Mail ahead of his PSV side facing Leicester in the Europa Conference League.
“Do I regret it? It’s always difficult to look back but if you ask me now then yeah, I should have joined Liverpool for sure. I just made a wrong decision but it’s not a regret.”
Gotze made the switch to PSV in 2020 and has kickstarted his career with the Dutch giants. This season has seen him make 45 appearances in all competitions, his most in a single season since his 2014/15 campaign with Bayern. He has also scored double figures for the first time since then.
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Source : 90min