Mario Gotze reveals what Jurgen Klopp told him about joining Liverpool in 2016

Liverpool are at the beginning of another new journey with Arne Slot as their head coach.

Slot has taken over with the Reds in a strong position and has immediately set about making them challengers once again.

The man who put Liverpool in such good shape was of course Jurgen Klopp. Klopp took the Reds from a far lower starting point in 2015 and put them right back on their perch as the best team in Europe.

It was not an overnight process for the German and he had to prune his perfect Liverpool squad over his first two or three years in charge.

Part of that process was convincing players that Liverpool were going places under his stewardship.

And while many players bought into Klopp’s plan and became Liverpool legends along the way, others decided that it wasn’t for them. One such example was Mario Gotze, who has opened up on his regret at not taking Klopp’s advice and joining in 2016.

Mario Gotze opens up on Liverpool regret

Gotze was a terrific player in Klopp’s two-time Bundesliga winning side at Borussia Dortmund.

But with the Germany international failing to ignite after a 2013 move to Bayern Munich, he was on the market again in 2016. And writing in The Players’ Tribune, Gotze has detailed how close he came to joining Liverpool.

“In 2016, I nearly went to a famous team in England called Liverpool,” he says in a letter addressed to his children. “The coach there was a man named Jurgen Klopp. Maybe you have seen pictures of him? Tall, big smile, very funny. Jurgen had been my coach at Dortmund, and I did not realise how lucky I was to have him.

“I went to his house in Liverpool, where we sat down together in the living room with our wives. What makes Jurgen special is that he sees Mario the person. We did not talk much about football. He wasn’t saying, “How can I convince you? What do you want?”

“He asked me about life in general, and I think he said something like, “Look, Mario, you’ll play a lot, and you’ll have fun here. I know that’s the most important thing for you. The club is amazing. Have a think about it. I really wanted to play for him again.

“But I also wanted to win things right away,” Gotze admits. “I was so impatient! Liverpool had just finished eighth in England, and Dortmund had come second in Germany. Dortmund had also signed Andre Schurrle, one of my best friends in football. I remembered how much fun it had been the first time, when we won two league titles and made it to the Champions League final. Maybe things would be like in the good old days, you know?

“So I went back. And as much as I love Dortmund, I do feel that I missed out on a special journey with Jurgen. I didn’t understand that he needed time to build a great team at Liverpool. There was not really any need for me to play in the Champions League right away. I just didn’t think that far ahead.”

What happened to Mario Gotze after?

Gotze was on top of the world after his World Cup winning goal against Argentina in the 2014 final. Seen as a huge talent at that time, things did not really pan out for him, though.

When Gotze decided to join Dortmund over Liverpool in 2016, he was still only 24. However, the years since have shown that the attacking midfielder had already seen his peak as a footballer.

He played just 103 times for Dortmund across four seasons in his second stint at the club, scoring 14 times. Unfortunately, a diagnosis of myopathy in 2017 limited his impact at Westfalenstadion.

From there, Gotze joined PSV Eindhoven for a two-year spell in 2020, before moving back to German football with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022. Still with Eintracht, Gotze has played 12 times this season.

It’s easy to see why the World Cup winner regrets not saying ‘yes’ to Klopp and Liverpool in 2016. However, given the way his career went from then on, the Reds will hold no such remorse.

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