Arsenal
Bundesliga Playmaker Open To Joining Arsenal After Snubbing Liverpool Move
Mario Gotze would be interested in moving to Arsenal after rejecting the chance to join Liverpool because he felt it would be a backwards step in his career
The opening of the summer transfer window is fast approaching so we’ll bring you all the latest transfer rumours and gossip from around the globe. Today, more on the future of Mario Gotze…
Mario Gotze would be interested in moving to Arsenal this summer after turning down the chance to join Liverpool because he felt it would be a backwards step in his career, according to the Express.
Gotze has just one year remaining on his contract and his future has been the subject of much speculation in recent months with the playmaker initially tipped to leave Bayern Munich after struggling to establish himself as a first team regular.
The 23-year-old fell out-of-favour under Pep Guardiola and started just 14 games last season while he played just six minutes of Champions League football since returning from a hamstring injury at the turn of the year.
Gotze’s chances of resurrecting his career at the Allianz Arena looked slim after reports in Germany claimed that new boss Carlo Ancelotti had made it clear to the player that he was free to find a new club as he didn’t feature in his first team plans for next season.
This alerted several clubs in the Premier League with Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reporting last month that Arsenal had joined Liverpool in expressing their interest in signing Gotze this summer.
Liverpool had been dubbed as many people’s favourites to sign Gotze due to Jurgen Klopp’s close relationship with the player having managed him during their time at Borussia Dortmund and it looked like a reunion at Anfield could be on the cards.
Gotze then made a surprise statement last week declaring he wanted to stay at the German champions and fight for his place under Ancelotti, despite Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge hinting that Gotze has already been told he won’t be a regular next season.
“I had talks with him (Mario) and (Carlo) Ancelotti. Mario knows the thoughts of Bayern. Everything was clearly and seriously explained to Mario.
“He knows what the club thinks and what the new coach thinks. Mario has to evaluate for himself whether he wants to play constantly.” [Source: Sky Sports]
So Gotze could yet be forced out of Bayern and the Express are citing a report coming from SportBild that claims the playmaker chose to reject Liverpool’s advances as he felt it would be a backwards step joining a club that can’t offer him any form of European football.
However, a move to the Premier League could still be on the cards as the German publication suggests that Gotze would be interested in joining Arsenal as they can offer him Champions League football next season following their second-placed finish.
Arsene Wenger is set to lose Tomas Rosicky when his contract expires this month while Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have also been tipped to leave North London this summer, so Arsenal are likely to strengthen their options in attack.
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Gotze is capable of playing anywhere across the front three positions and has even been deployed as a ‘false 9’ by club and country, so he’d give Wenger plenty of options in attack if he does end up moving to the Emirates this summer.
However, it would be a huge blow if Liverpool were to miss out on Gotze’s signature to one of their Premier League rivals so I think Klopp will do all he can to try and lure the player to Anfield if he does end up leaving Bayern over the coming months.
