Liverpool have been linked with Mario Gotze recently, but instead of worrying about a transfer, the German World Cup winner might be nervous if he’ll ever play the game again.
Borussia Dortmund have said the 24-year-old will not play for an undefined period of time after it was discovered by doctors that he has ‘metabolic disturbances’, report the BBC.
“He [Gotze] has continually suffered with muscular problems in the past few months, prompting a comprehensive internal investigation into the possible causes,” said a club statement.
“Those investigations revealed the player has metabolic disturbances, rendering it absolutely necessary to withdraw him from team training for the time being.”
Since choosing his former club over us in summer 2016, Gotze’s stock has fallen dramatically. He fell out of favour under Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich, but hasn’t been able to get into Thomas Tuchel’s Dortmund side either – making just nine starts all term.
Under Jurgen Klopp as a teenager, Gotze was the first name on BVB’s team-sheet and one of the most highly regarded attacking midfielders on the continent, but at 24, his primary aim now is to get himself back on a football pitch.
If there was a genuine possibility of Liverpool signing Gotze at the end of this season, that looks virtually impossible now.
We wish him well in his recovery, of course.