One Dutch pundit had to respond to Mario Gotze after the German openly talked about his chance at playing for Liverpool. The Jurgen Klopp connection is a strong one.
Mario Gotze told the English press last week that he thinks he should have joined Liverpool. He supposedly had the chance to a few years ago but opted not to.
And it’s easy to see why that chance came about. The best football of Gotze’s career came as a youngster under Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund. He was the golden boy of German football and appeared destined to be one of the world’s best players.
Now, however, he’s at PSV Eindhoven in what should really be his prime years. Gotze admits things could have been very, very different.
“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,” he said, per the Daily Mail.
Mario Gotze and his Liverpool chances
Dutch pundit René van der Gijp – a former Netherlands international – spoke on Gotze’s comments and can’t quite believe what the midfielder said. He, quite clearly, doesn’t believe that a move to Liverpool would have worked.
“I really thought that he had a very good image of himself,” he said, per MSN. “That he thinks: I will play in the Netherlands; I am only seventy per cent fit. And then I’ll be fine, against the NECs of this world.
“But recently, I heard that he would rather have chosen Liverpool. Then I think: Yes, goddamn, you would never have played there, man.
“With Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané. Then I think: Jesus, how can you say that?”
We completely see where Van der Gijp is coming from, of course. Gotze has been nowhere near the required level for Liverpool since his early time with Bayern Munich. Perhaps things would have been no different at Anfield and we’d have seen the same fitness issues and drop in performance.
But Gotze’s natural talent is unquestionable and we all saw just how well Klopp had him playing. It’s easy to see why even Gotze believes things would have been better for him. Liverpool have kicked on nearly every player they’ve signed since Klopp took over. With the player having thrived under him before, the chances seem good that he’d have been somewhere near his former level, as we’ve previously written.
We’ll never know, of course, but a genuine ‘what if?’ for Gotze and Liverpool.
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