Klopp Reportedly Still Wants To Bring Mario Götze To Liverpool

First things first, I would just like to point out that I successfully managed to avoid making a “Götze Make It Happen” joke in the headline and I feel pretty proud of myself, to be quite honest.

Right, so, as we mentioned earlier today, Jürgen Klopp is already looking ahead to the summer transfer window. And if recent rumors are to be believed— mostly they aren’t, but hey, you never know— Klopp and company are still very keen on bringing Mario Götze to Liverpool.

The club, you may recall, were in advanced talks last summer to sign the hero of the 2014 World Cup Final after falling out of favor at Bayern Munich. While Götze initially said he wanted to stay and fight for a place in the squad, Bayern made it clear that he wasn’t wanted at the Allianz and that it would behoove him to move. Götze apparently strongly considered the move, not least because it would a chance to reunite with his old mentor. But a variety of factors— not least being the lack of Champions League football with Liverpool— led Götze to return to Borussia Dortmund instead. The player was happy, Dortmund fans were pleased to welcome back a prodigal son, and Liverpool went on to sign Sadio Mané (which, you have to admit, is a pretty great consolation prize).

But so far Götze has only made 15 appearances for Dortmund this season and scored only two goals. There’s a growing since that the 24-year-old forward/attacking midfielder’s path to redemption at the Westfalenstadion has hit some quicksand and that things might not work out there after all. Which means Klopp and the Liverpool front office once again sense an opportunity.

The scuttlebutt is that Dortmund will ask for £20m, about what they paid to bring Götze back from Bayern. There’s also a sense that Champions League football will continue to be a sticking point, and that failure to achieve a Top 4 finish would render talks moot.

Of course, it’s only February and all transfer rumours at this stage are even more speculative than usual. Take with several grains of salt.