Lothar Matthaus and Mario Gotze have both won World Cups with Germany, but the younger man won’t be thanking the midfield legend today following some outrageous comments that are now circling the football web.
Matthaus, known in Germany as a relatively outspoken pundit now he’s hung up his boots, suggested that 24-year-old Gotze is done and dusted and that he should sign for a club in China instead of continually trying to make it in Europe…
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“It may sound hard, but if Gotze does not succeed at Dortmund, he should go to China,” he wrote in his column for BILD, translated by ESPN. “Götze certainly will not want to earn less.
“He cannot earn the same at Schalke 04, does not fit with Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach has not enough money.
“Top teams from abroad will not be interested in him, but it is clear that for Götze something has to change. He lacks speed and that is very important in modern football.”
Gotze has struggled badly since moving to Dortmund from Bayern in the summer and isn’t a regular in Thomas Tuchel’s team. The likes of Ousmane Dembele and Christian Pulisic are already preferred and the playmaker’s stock is undeniably falling.
The Mirror recently linked him with a switch to Liverpool, with Jurgen Klopp famously missing out on his former player in 2016, but by all accounts, Gotze is not the same breathtaking creative prospect he once was.
In truth, Gotze doesn’t have the attributes the squad craves right now. We need pace, goals and running in behind – whereas Gotze is more of a creator. We wouldn’t be averse to giving him an opportunity, providing we bought a faster, more dynamic option as well.