Liverpool Reportedly Confident of Signing Mario Götze

Late last week, reports out of Germany suggested that Borussia Dortmund had taken the lead in the race to sign Bayern Munich attacker Mario Götze. As always seems to be the way with transfer rumours, this week all of that has turned around and instead it’s Liverpool who are frontrunners for his signature.

Reliable, club-connected journalists like the Express’ Paul Joyce and The Telegraph’s Chris Bascombe are loudly proclaiming that the English club are “confident” and “prepared to do everything they can” to land Mario Götze. They’re claiming the versatile young German attacker is indeed the club’s number one transfer target.

All of this follows on from news early in the week that Bayern Munich had completed the controversial signing of Dortmund’s star centre half Mats Hummels. There had been some hope amongst Dortmund followers that the club could use Hummels’ desire to head to Bayern as leverage in their own negotiations to re-sign Götze.

With the Hummels deal done, though, the German club no longer has that card to play, and while Götze might be able to push through a move back to Dortmund should it be his preferred destination, without a strong push from the player it is likely Bayern would prefer to sell the 23-year-old out of country rather than to a rival.

Meanwhile, reports out of Germany claim incoming Bayern manager Carlo Ancelotti has informed Götze that he will not see his chances improve next season should he remain, and that the best thing for his career would be to find a new club. And for the past few months at least, there have only been two clubs in the running.

With the connection to current Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, the money of the Premier League, and Bayern likely preferring not to send Götze to a league rival—not to mention the increasingly confident noises coming from club-connected journalists—it’s looking increasingly likely that, in the end, it might be down to one club.

Though of course, this being a transfer saga, it could all mean that Mario Götze will officially re-join Borussia Dortmund before the end of the weekend.