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In a pretty disappointing blow, it appears that Liverpool target and Schalke midfielder Leon Goretzka has decided to move to Bayern Munich this summer when his contract runs out. Two separate news reports by Spanish papers Marca and German papers Sports Bild both claim that the midfielder has finally settled on staying in Germany.
Liverpool have been following Goretzka since the summer, originally rumoured as the Plan B should signing Naby Keita not work out. German journalist Raphael Honigstein (you may know him as the author of Bring the Noise: The Jürgen Klopp Story) even claimed back in July that the deal was already done, hence why no one else has been able to make a concrete move for Goretzka.
+++ Breaking news of @sportbild +++ Leon Goretzka will sign a contract in Munich in the new year +++ From july he will be a player of @fcbayern +++ a deal without a transfer fee +++ @altobelli13 @TorstenRumpf
— Christian Falk (@cfbayern) December 31, 2017
There you go. https://t.co/0ZPXeWtiOO
— Raphael Honigstein (@honigstein) December 31, 2017
With the possibly impending departure of Emre Can on the horizon, one would hope that Liverpool are still looking to add a proper CDM to their roster, and this will have dealt them a blow. Naby Keita is still coming this summer, that much is true, but Goretzka had every attribute that Klopp was looking for and would’ve made the perfect fit for the squad. The move to Liverpool may not have been easy, but it ticked all of the boxes for the perfect transfer.
There is a very small, very thin silver lining - while it may have come from one of the most respected German journalists in the world, it remains unofficial. The January window opens tomorrow, and Goretzka himself has said he’ll make his decision then. Here’s hoping it’s all #fakenews and he decides to switch to full Red.