Schalke Director Denies Goretzka to Bayern Deal Done

Yesterday, word out of Germany via Sportbild and from Bundesliga experts Raphael Honigstein, Lee Price, and others was that Leon Goretzka had chosen Bayern Munich. It was a significant blow for the Reds as until then there had been rumblings he was leaning towards Jürgen Klopp and Anfield.

Today, there’s a sliver of hope from an unlikely source, as Schalke sporting director Christian Heidel says the player has not yet decided on his future—that Heidel believes if he had already chosen Bayern he would have first informed his current club that he would not be re-signing with them.

“Leon has not informed us that he has decided to leave,” Heidel, who late last month offered Goretzka a lucrative new deal to remain at Schalke, told Germany’s Sport1 when asked about the player earlier today. “I trust Leon and his adviser, with whom I was in contact with yesterday.”

There are further doubts about the Sportbild report that Goretzka had chosen Bayern due to the fact some of their information first appeared in Marca. Yet with respected experts like Hoigstein and Price insisting their reports were accurate yesterday, there seemed little reason to doubt them.

If his current sporting director says nothing is decided, though, then perhaps his future is still up in the air. There was also a further boost for Liverpool fans when Goretzka liked an Instagram video of Klopp celebrating against Burnley today—though reading much into that seems like a bad idea.

Whatever Goretzka decides—and despite the doubts cast today on reports that he had already agreed a deal with Bayern, it’s hard not to consider them heavy favourites—the 22-year-old midfield star has promised he will make a final decision well before the end of the month.