The Liverpool Offside - Liverpool FC Transfer News: Reds Target Bayern Attacker Mario GötzeZeppeline, Trinken, & Pink Badeshortshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/51345/ltos-fav.png2016-06-01T20:00:03+01:00http://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/rss/stream/115233492016-06-01T20:00:03+01:002016-06-01T20:00:03+01:00Götze Holding Out for Barca or Madrid
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<p>Bayern Munich don't want Mario Götze. Mario Götze wants Barcelona. Barcelona don't want Mario Götze. Liverpool want Mario Götze. Mario Götze doesn't want Liverpool...</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Mario Götze has said he wants to prove his worth to Bayern Munich, but Bayern Munich don’t entirely believe him and since there’s just a year to go on his current deal they would very much like to sell him to Liverpool to get him out of the league and get a bit of their money back.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">There’s just one problem in that. Namely Mario Götze, who apparently doesn’t much want a move to Liverpool. He also doesn’t appear to be especially eager to admit defeat and push for a move back to Borussia Dortmund, the club he left Bayern for and who by all accounts would be happy to have him back.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">According to Germany’s SportBild, the reason he’s not open to the move to Liverpool that Bayern would like or agitating for the return to his boyhood club that Dortmund have been trying to orchestrate is that the 23-year-old attacker has set his heart on a move to one of the Spanish giants. Or maybe Arsenal.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">It’s a new twist to the transfer saga that can likely be traced back to Götze’s new agent, who in this case is also the player’s father, who took over the player’s affairs after he fired German super agent Volker Struth earlier in the month. Struth had been pushing for the player to accept a move to Liverpool.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The headliners in the list of clubs that Götze would now apparently accept a move to are obviously Real Madrid and Barcelona. And they are, quite frankly, a touch laughable given Götze’s status at Bayern Munich, where he has fallen out of favour and fallen down the pecking order at Germany’s biggest club.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">It’s not that Götze might not be talented enough to play for them, or that they might not have been interested in him today if he’d stayed at Dortmund and grown into a superstar over the past three years. It’s that those sorts of clubs aren’t going to be in the least bit interested in the Götze of the here and now.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Götze was supposed to be at the point where he could attract a Real Madrid or Barcelona at this stage—that is if he wanted a change of scenery from Bayern Munich. Instead, the reality is that he needs to spend two or three years rehabilitating his career before he might once again draw real interest such clubs.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Which leaves Arsenal. Maybe. Assuming Götze would actually go there in the end rather than waiting for a phone call from the Bernabeu that never comes. Assuming that Arsenal need him and would be happy, as a club like Liverpool would be, to take him in knowing he’d only be there for two or three seasons.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">That was always the idea behind Götze to Liverpool. That he was a player likely to push for a move to a club like Real or Barca down the road, but that with how things have gone at Bayern he needed a few years at a club like Liverpool rehabilitating his career and becoming the superstar he was always supposed to.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Liverpool were content with that, and while Götze was using them to get back to one of the world’s biggest clubs they would be using him to reestablish themselves in the top four. It was always going to be a marriage of convenience. It still might be, of course, but if it does come to pass there will be little love in it.</p>
https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-transfer-news/2016/6/1/11828144/mario-gotze-holding-out-barcelona-real-madrid-arsenal-transfer-newsNoel Chomyn2016-05-30T16:30:02+01:002016-05-30T16:30:02+01:00Götze Goes Quiet on Future Plans
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<p>Mario Götze doesn’t want to talk, he just wants to focus on the Euros. Liverpool now need to decide if they’re going to wait for him or move on.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">A week ago, Mario Götze was quite happy to talk about his future, claiming he would stay at Bayern Munich and fight for his place at Germany’s biggest club. Germany’s biggest club, on the other hand, weren’t of entirely the same mind, with CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge telling Götze there was no room for him at the club.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This week, following a request from his national team manager that everyone move on from talking about his future, it seems the player is set not to speak on the matter again—lest things end up going wrong for him again, as they did last week when his public declaration of loyalty to Bayern Munich was met with a dismissive shrug.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">"I think enough has been written and done," Götze said when pressed on the issue following his appearance against in a waterlogged friendly yesterday that Germany fall 3-1 to Slovakia. "I’ve said everything about this already. I’m at the Euros now and don’t want to say anything more about it."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">If Götze has indeed said everything he wants to on the subject, one can only assume his final words are meant to be the last word on it—at least as far as he’s concerned. And those final words involved him pledging at least his immediate future to his current club, no matter than his current club isn’t in a reciprocating mood.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The reasons for Bayern’s desire to sell are obvious, and boil down to that Götze has just a year left on his current contract and that he has spent much of the past season refusing to sign a new one. Despite his recent decision to stay and fight for his place, it’s clear the club aren’t at all confident that he will now sign a new deal to stay.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">His performance at the Euros and any further discussions with Bayern’s representatives following them, or a start to the season that sees him sidelined by incoming Bayern manager Carlo Ancelotti as he was by Pep Guardiola last season, could see the situation changed. For the next month or two, though, it seems set.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Götze has said his bit and wants to focus on the Euros now, and despite Bayern’s desire to get what they can back by selling him, a move won’t be coming in the next few weeks. For Liverpool fans—and the club, even—the question now becomes whether they should move on from Mario Götze. Whether perhaps they already have.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Current rumours from journalists with ties to Liverpool suggest they may have, and that Southampton’s 15-goal man Sadio Mane will instead be the big attacking signing of the summer, though if reports are to be believed, the Reds will face stiff competition for him from Manchester United and Tottenham.</p>
https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-transfer-news/2016/5/30/11810740/mario-gotze-quiet-future-plans-liverpool-bayern-munich-transfer-euro-2016Noel Chomyn2016-05-26T16:00:06+01:002016-05-26T16:00:06+01:00Bayern CEO Warns Götze Over Future
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<p>Mario Götze says he wants to fight for his place at Bayern Munich, but with just a year left on his current deal it seems the club might not be big fans of him sticking around.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">You probably thought the Mario Götze to Liverpool transfer saga was over. And to be fair, it did seem a fairly safe bet it was what with the player talking about wanting to prove himself at Bayern Munich and his national team coach telling reporters that, yes, the 23-year-old star wasn’t going to be changing clubs.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Well, think again. Today, Bayern’s CEO has hinted that Götze has a choice to make this summer when it comes to his playing time in the coming season. In short, he can stay at Bayern Munich and probably spend much of the 2016-17 season stuck on the bench, or he can move on in search of a fresh start and revitalized career.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">"Mario knows the thoughts of Bayern," CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told Kicker when asked whether Götze had a future at Beyern. "Everything was clearly and seriously explained to Mario. He knows what the club thinks and what the new coach thinks. Mario has to evaluate for himself whether he wants to play consistently."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As for why it is that it’s Bayern’s CEO who sounds the least certain whether Götze should—or perhaps if he even will—remain at Bayern, it comes down to his contract situaiton. Namely that Götze has just one season left on his deal with the club and Rummenigge has spent the past season trying to get him to sign a new one.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Götze may be making public proclamations about wanting to fight for his place at Germany’s biggest club, but Rummenigge has to protect himself against what happens if the transfer window closes without Götze having signed a new deal, he doesn’t get enough minutes to make him happy, and he leaves on a free next summer.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">After paying €37M to sign him from Borussia Dortmund in 2013, this would be a catastrophic development—especially if he ended up back at Dortmund on a free transfer, which has been a widely speculated possibility. With that in mind, it might just be that a deal for Mario Götze might not quite be complete non-starter.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Or at least it won’t be if the Euros end and there hasn’t been any movement towards getting a new deal done with Bayern Munich. If that’s the case, while Götze might be willing to stay and fight for his place, it could be the club pushing him out the door.</p>
https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-transfer-news/2016/5/26/11783026/bayern-munich-ceo-warns-mario-gotze-minutes-bench-liverpool-transfer-newsNoel Chomyn2016-05-25T20:00:03+01:002016-05-25T20:00:03+01:00Löw Puts Liverpool's Dream of Signing Götze to Bed
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<p>In predictable fashion, reporters at Joachim Löw's press conference asked him to comment on rumors regarding the future of his young star striker, and he did so, dashing the hopes of Reds across the globe.</p> <p>Just in case anyone was wondering whether May and not April might be the cruelest month, today Germany's World Cup winning manager weighed in on the future of the baby-faced assassin many Liverpool fans hoped would reunite with Jürgen Klopp on Merseyside, confirming that he, too, has had telephone conversations with Liverpool target Mario Götze.</p>
<p>It's day 8 of Germany's pre-Euro training camp, and apparently that means it's time for a press conference. Speaking at the lovely Chateau de Camiole in Provence, Joachim Löw made it clear that like Klopp, he too has Goetze's phone number, has "been in constant contact with Mario," and that the player was gracious enough to keep Lowe "informed all the time." Further, Lowe confirmed that it was Don Ancellotti himself that played a pivotal role in dashing the hopes of Liverpool fans.</p>
<p>"He had a long talk with Ancelotti and I think a few falsities were said about that," Löw told reporters, "but a coach can never give a guarantee and he told Mario that everybody starts from scratch from the start of the season under him. He told me he wants to stay in Munich and take his chance with the new coach and I think that's a fine decision because it's what his feeling tells him to do, so it's the right decision for him."</p>
<p>Whether Goetze will find his playing time affected this summer from lack of reps at the Allianz is a separate question, and perhaps a lack of seeing the pitch in the coming weeks will provide Reds fans with some small sliver of hope to hold onto through August.</p>
<p>In news that this author finds particularly depressing, multiple sources reporting Löw's comments also saw fit to throw in German legend Lothar Matthaus' thoughts, which amounted to <i>why would he join a club that do not even play in the Champions League?</i></p>
<p>While many Reds - this one included - are spinning last Wednesday's loss as a potential blessing in disguise for next year's league form, there is no denying the lack of European football will make it harder for Klopp to recruit some of his top targets. One hopes that Klopp has a few more numbers in his Rolodex.</p>
https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-transfer-news/2016/5/25/11770860/liverpool-transfer-news-joachim-loew-mario-goetze-will-stay-bayern-munichEJ_18922016-05-24T03:00:03+01:002016-05-24T03:00:03+01:00Götze Staying After Phone Call with Ancelotti?
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<p>While BILD isn't always reliable, a report that Götze will stay at Bayern Munich after a conversation with Carlo Ancelotti will disappoint Liverpool fans.</p> <p>According to BILD, Mario Götze <a href="http://www.bild.de/bild-plus/sport/fussball/mario-goetze/hatte-ein-gutes-gespraech-mit-ancelotti-45926488,var=a,view=conversionToLogin.bild.html" target="_blank">is set to stay</a> with <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bavarianfootballworks.com/">Bayern Munich</a> after positive talks with incoming manager, Carlo Ancelotti. It is believed that a phone call with the former <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/">Chelsea</a>, Real Madrid, and AC Milan manager have convinced the 23-year-old to remain with the German giants. Any potential move to <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.fearthewall.com/">Borussia Dortmund</a> or Liverpool appears to be NOT HAPPENING AT ALL SO PLEASE MOVE ON WITH DIGNITY. This might explain <a href="http://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-transfer-news/2016/5/23/11744470/liverpool-bayern-munich-transfer-news-gotze-fires-agent-conflicting-rumours" target="_blank">recent events</a> in the Mario's world where he severed ties with his agent and made a short statement about focusing on his future in Bavaria. A longer statement appeared on the player's Facebook page, confirming the player's intentions and ending with #partofbayern to underline said intentions.</p>
<p>Liverpool were never seriously in for the player. FSG have no ambition. Everything is okay as Jürgen Klopp is here. I never wanted the player anyway. There is no way way a club in our position can get a player like that, but once again, we reveal how deluded we are. Liverpool are in trouble. All is lost. Liverpool need wingers instead of attacking midfielders. Being part of Mario isn't worth it. Well at least we tried, but Lazar Marković will rise to take his rightful place in the side. We should stick <span>James Milner</span> on the right and watch the magic happen. <span>Joe Allen</span> is the attacking midfielder we need but not the one we deserve.</p>
<p>Whatever your response to the news that Mario Götze probably isn't coming to Liverpool, we must accept that the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/transfer-rumors">summer transfer window</a> hasn't even officially opened yet. Although players deals can be agreed for players and contracts signed, transfers cannot go through officially until next month. <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/">Liverpool's</a> season only ended last week in a game of little consequence that this writer hardly remembers, and so, it is best to wait to see what emerges over the coming weeks. After all, Liverpool ended up with <span>Roberto Firmino</span> after being snubbed by Memphis Depay. Then again, Liverpool ended up with Mario Balotelli after failing to secure top targets. These transfer eventualities can work in a number of ways.</p>
<p>What should hearten Liverpool is the presence of Jürgen Klopp, but Götze is a wonderful player. The prospect of Roberto Firmino and <span>Philippe Coutinho</span> buzzing around with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/fifa-womens-world-cup">World Cup</a> winner was exciting, and given that Liverpool were largely seen as having a good chance of securing the player's signature, it represents a setback. Klopp knows and understands the player extremely well, and naturally, there would have been a plan to maximise the former Borussia Dortmund wunderkind's talents.</p>
<p>There isn't anything for Götze to lose by saying he wants to stay with a year left on his contract. The player is now reportedly being represented by his family and the agent of <span>Holger Badstuber</span>, an injury prone Bayern stalwart. Götze is the type of player Ancelotti usually appreciates, making this a move that isn't altogether that surprising. If the story from BILD is true, then surely Liverpool no longer have a chance of signing the player. The transfer window can be confusing and full of errors, and maybe Mario Götze isn't the prince that was promised in our dreams.</p>
https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-transfer-news/2016/5/24/11754562/liverpool-transfer-target-mario-gotze-staying-bayern-munich-phone-call-carlo-ancelottiCStars2016-05-23T15:15:02+01:002016-05-23T15:15:02+01:00Mario Götze Rumour Bonanza
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<p>Rumours are flying today about Mario Götze’s new agent, the pay packet he’s been offered by Liverpool, and whether he’s had a change of heart about staying at Bayern Munich.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">With Liverpool nearing the completion of a deal to <a href="http://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-transfer-news/2016/5/23/11743780/loris-karius-arrives-liverpool-medical-bargain-transfer-move-release-clause">bring Loris Karius to Anfield</a>, rumours are flying that Mario Götze might not be far behind. Unless he’s had a change of heart and now wants to stay at Bayern Munich to fight for his future at Germany’s biggest club.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">After reports emerged that Liverpool had offered to make Götze their highest paid player, offering the 23-year-old £150k per week to make the switch to the Premier League, the English press began to talk about his move to Anfield being something of a foregone conclusion. In Germany, though, the story is rather different.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In his homeland, Bild are claiming that Götze has had a change of heart and will instead remain at Bayern—though even that is further complicated by suggestions he will continue to hold off on signing a new deal. His current contract has only a year left on it, meaning Bayern risk losing him next summer on a free.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">"I look forward to the new season in Munich and will do everything to compete during my first training sessions under Carlo Ancelotti," was Götze’s brief statement when pressed on his future today, which either signals—as Bild believe—that he’s staying at Bayern or is simply the player covering his bases.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">For every player like Alex Teixeira or Dejan Lovren who openly talks about desiring a move there’s a player like Roberto Firmino or Philippe Coutinho who has played down the possibility of changing clubs right until the deal is done in order to protect against the chance of the transfer falling through.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And whatever is going to happen with Götze, there appear to be some added complications to sort through, with news that the player has parted was with Volker Struth and the Sport Total agency, which is being reported as a surprise move by the German media, one with an uncertain impact on his future.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The main uncertainty stems from so far unconfirmed reports that Götze is moving to the ROGON sports management group, who represent Roberto Firmino and Loris Karius. In Firmino’s case, ROGON helped arrange his move to Liverpool in a difficult deal involving the complications of third-party ownership.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">If Götze has chosen ROGON, then, it’s a move that will fuel speculation that he in fact could be on his way to Liverpool. Unless, that is, he really has had a change of heart and is now set on proving his worth to Bayern's incoming manager.</p>
https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-transfer-news/2016/5/23/11744470/liverpool-bayern-munich-transfer-news-gotze-fires-agent-conflicting-rumoursNoel Chomyn2016-05-20T19:30:03+01:002016-05-20T19:30:03+01:00Löw: Götze Needs Confidence
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<p>The man Götze needs to impress the most to keep his place in the national team explained how Liverpool's reported top target can return to his very best.</p> <p><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/">Liverpool</a> might not have Champions League to offer players, but at least there presence of <span>Jürgen Klopp</span> will ensure that players will consider any offer to join him seriously. The status and success of Klopp in his homeland will provide Liverpool with a significant advantage in securing any reasonable targets who are either German or happen to play their trade in the Bundesliga. Klopp's<a target="_blank" href="http://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/2016/5/14/11676228/liverpool-to-make-20-million-bid-for-mario-gotze"> top target this summer</a> is widely believed to be <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bavarianfootballworks.com/">Bayern Munich</a> attacking midfielder<span> Mario Götze</span>.</p>
<p>Klopp and Götze's shared three full seasons together at <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.fearthewall.com/">Borussia Dortmund</a>, winning the Bundesliga twice, winning the DFB-Pokal, and reaching the Champions League final. The thrilling leadership from Klopp combined with the superstar displays from a teenager captured imaginations across Europe. Both were and still are a big deal. Despite his struggles at Bayern, Götze would be an enormous coup for Liverpool. For those asking how Liverpool could attract the player without European football, Joachim Löw -- manager of the German national team -- <a target="_blank" href="http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-transfer-target-mario-gotze-11361122">might have the answer</a>.</p>
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<p>Generally, I say sometimes a change can be freeing, a new environment, new challenges, and new stimulus. Look out at the development of Toni Kroos, he was also at the top in Bayern, but in Madrid he has yet again made a leap. What Mario needs is confidence and he needs a coach who wants to have him in his team.</p>
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<p>For those who like to keep track, Götze turns 24 next month. Löw's words might provide further hope that a deal can be done in the near future, because which other manager knows the player's talents better than the one who nurtured them? <span>Philippe Coutinho</span>, <span>Daniel Sturridge</span>, and <span>Mamadou Sakho</span> have shown that Liverpool is a fine destination for talented players who weren't appreciated as they should have been at other big clubs in Europe. While there are other clubs that would provide similar opportunities, the platform and the manager are in place for Götze to shine at Anfield.</p>
https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-transfer-news/2016/5/20/11720812/joachim-low-liverpool-transfer-target-mario-gotze-needs-confidenceCStars2016-05-14T22:00:03+01:002016-05-14T22:00:03+01:00Rumour Mongering: £20M Mario Bid
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<p>Liverpool are reportedly set to make a £20 million bid for the World Cup hero who is currently surplus to requirements at Bayern Munich.</p> <p>If the latest internet rumblings are to be believed, Liverpool may be set to start their summer transfer business off with an exciting, marquee signing in the form of the former Borussia Dortmund and current Bayern Munich forward, Mario Götze. Reports vary, but the consensus seems to be that the player himself has given his okay for the move, and Bayern Munich are anticipating <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/">Liverpool's</a> first bid within the week, expected to be in the £20-£25 million range.</p>
<p>The relationship between Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and 23-year-old wunderkind Mario Götze, who Klopp mentored at Borussia Dortmund, has led to speculation that luring the talented young forward to Anfield would be a priority in the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/transfer-rumors">summer transfer window</a>. Over the past several weeks, those rumors have started gaining credibility as reliable sources in both the English and German media have confirmed interest from all parties involved for the transfer to take place.</p>
<p>German journalist Philip Harmeling posted on Twitter that <a href="https://twitter.com/PhilipHarmeling/status/731485241756557312">two scouts</a> had been by to watch Götze, but that <a href="https://twitter.com/PhilipHarmeling/status/731485787955576837">the contract </a>is already clear and waiting for approval from both teams.</p>
<p>As the days pass, it does seem that this is one story with some weight to it, though mutual interest is only the first step towards a successful transfer. Liverpool fans have learned this to their detriment over the past several years, as one transfer after another has fall apart in the final stages.</p>
<p>At this point, cautious optimism is in order as we await further developments.</p>
https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/2016/5/14/11676228/liverpool-to-make-20-million-bid-for-mario-gotzeepicskyline