Mario Götze regrets not joining Liverpool in 2016
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Götze emerged as one of the best young talents in Europe upon his debut under Jürgen Klopp at Dortmund in 2009.
Between 2010 and 2013, he played a crucial role in helping the team secure two Bundesliga titles and one DFB-Pokal.
Götze had the world at his feet as a youngster and eventually moved to Bayern Munich, where he hoped to achieve even greater success.
Despite a bright first two seasons for Bayern, the German midfielder eventually became surplus to requirements.
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As Götze prepared to leave the Bavarian giants, Klopp, who had since moved to Liverpool, expressed a keen interest in bringing him to Anfield.
However, instead of moving to Liverpool, Götze favoured a move back to Dortmund.
In his column for The Player's Tribune, the 32-year-old wrote:
In 2016, I nearly went to a famous team in England called Liverpool. The coach there was a man named Jürgen Klopp.That time, Liverpool were in the midst of a rebuilding phase, having finished a disappointing eighth in the Premier League and were to miss out on European football for the upcoming season.
I went to his house in Liverpool, where we sat down together in the living room with our wives.
What makes Jürgen 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. I was so impatient!Klopp's Liverpool went on to achieve remarkable success, winning the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020, ending a 30-year league title drought.
Liverpool had just finished eighth in England, and Dortmund had come second in Germany. Dortmund had also signed André Schürrle, 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 Jürgen.
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.
Meanwhile, Götze spent four seasons back at Dortmund before a stint with PSV Eindhoven and then joined his current employers Eintracht Frankfurt.
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