2024-09-26 19:07:08
His move from BVB to Munich was hotly discussed in 2013. Now Mario Götze has commented on the transfer – and made it clear that he regrets it.
World champion Mario Götze has commented on his highly controversial move from Borussia Dortmund to FC Bayern Munich in the summer of 2013 – and apparently regrets it. “Zeit” has a letter written by Götze to his 17-year-old self, which comes from the book “Stimmen der Eintracht” by editor Michael Horeni, which was published this Wednesday.
In the letter to himself, Götze first reviews the beginning of his career in 2009 and describes his intense relationship with Jürgen Klopp. At that time he couldn’t understand how lucky it was to work with the then BVB coach. “He was the first coach in my professional career. And I thought: All coaches are like Jürgen,” said Götze. And further to himself: “Now that I’m writing this to you, I have to laugh about it myself. After a few years I realized: That’s definitely not the case. Nobody else is like that.” The coach helped Götze on and off the pitch, coaching him as a player but also as a young person.
Götze, now 32, continued: “Jürgen is a special coach, a special person. Of course you know that, it’s everywhere today.” Then he admits his mistake when he moved to Munich: “In hindsight, I should have stayed with him longer. It would have been better for me if I had continued the journey that he started with me when I was 17 or 18 for a few more If I had spent more years with him, I would have been able to appreciate everything I got from him more.”
Götze then explains his move with his fascination for FC Barcelona and the impending arrival of the then new Bayern coach Pep Guardiola. “I loved Barça football. I wanted to play that football too. With pep,” emphasizes Götze. The fact that FC Bayern used to be his favorite club also played a role.
Götze nevertheless writes to his 17-year-old self: “I know you won’t care much if I tell you: Stay in Dortmund a little longer. It will be good for you and your development.” He didn’t listen to this advice either. “I was stubborn. I was ambitious. I had strong ideas about what I wanted to achieve.”
He had the change firmly in his mind. Götze is now remorseful: “What you don’t know yet: the decisions you make for yourself will hurt other people. Much more than you can imagine.” He writes that at that point he had not experienced any resistance or pain and that he lacked an overview. Götze repeatedly shows insight towards his younger self, for example writing about difficult phases: “You have to experience it, you have to have this experience yourself, you have to feel it – and draw the right conclusions from it.”
Götze also talks about his decisive goal in the final of the 2014 World Cup. “The goal was partly luck. National coach Jogi Löw didn’t have to substitute me as a substitute, there were other players he could have used. André Schürrle hardly looked at the cross, he just saw me in the penalty area,” he admits frankly to. “And if the ball arrived just a little differently – one meter further to the right, one meter further to the left – then I wouldn’t have been able to take it with my chest and complete it. Everything was right at that moment.”