Gotze Rues Decision To Turn Down Klopp Reunion At Liverpool
Mario Gotze has admitted he was wrong to turn down a reunion with Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool back in 2016.
The PSV Eindhoven midfielder opted to return to Borussia Dortmund after an ill-fated three-year spell with Bayern Munich in 2016.
Gotze was given his professional debut as a 17-year-old by Klopp during his first spell at Dortmund and the pair won two Bundesliga titles together.
“We are still in touch and we spoke back then about me coming to Liverpool. But I wasn’t in a state of mind where I could consider it, that’s why it didn’t happen," Gotze told the Daily Mail.
“Do I regret it? It’s always difficult to look back but if you ask me now then yeah, I should have joined Liverpool for sure. I just made a wrong decision but it’s not a regret.
“Klopp probably made the biggest impact on my career. He can be very demanding – he can be your friend but also very harsh at the same time. It pushes you to great performances. That’s what happened with me back then, and it’s happened with Liverpool now.
“He is a manager not just for the players but everyone at the club, and then one-on-one he can be a friend as well as a boss. Can I imagine working with him again? I can imagine that, yes – we’ll see.
“He’s a good coach, for sure. He and Pep Guardiola are the most important coaches and characters I had in my career.”
Scorer of Germany's winning goal at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Gotze has not lived up to the potential he showed during his early days at the Signal Iduna Park.
The 29-year-old joined PSV in the summer of 2020 and has scored three goals in 25 Eredivisie games this season.
