Former Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich attacking midfielder Mario Gotze has revealed why he turned down a move to Liverpool when Jurgen Klopp was in charge of the club.

The Reds were heavily linked with a move for Gotze, who scored the winning goal for Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, but the move failed to materialise.

Liverpool ended up signing Senegal international Sadio Mane from Southampton instead in the summer of 2016 after scoring 25 goals in 75 games for the Saints during his time at St Mary’s. Mane made 269 appearances for the Reds between 2016 and 2022, helping the club win their first ever Premier League title in the 2019/20 campaign.

He also helped the Reds win the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, FA Cup and Carabao Cup before leaving for Bayern Munich in 2022 in a reported £35m deal.

Gotze, for his part, returned to Dortmund after turning down Liverpool. Gotze, who struggled with injuries at his former club, is now at Eintracht Frankfurt.

“In 2016, I almost went to a famous team in England called Liverpool,” Gotze writes for The player stand. “The coach there was a man called Jurgen Klopp. You might have seen pictures of him? Tall, big smile, very funny. Jurgen had been my coach at Dortmund, and I didn’t realize how lucky I was to have him.

“I went to his house in Liverpool, where we sat down together in the living room with our wives. What makes Jurgen special is that he sees Mario the person. We didn’t talk much about football. He didn’t say, ‘How can I convince you? What do you want?”.

“He asked me about life in general, and I think he said something like, ‘Look, Mario, you’re going to play a lot, and you’re going to have fun here. I know that is the most important thing to you. The club is fantastic. Think about it.” I really wanted to play for him again.”

“I wanted to win things right away. I was so impatient!” he continued. “Liverpool had just finished eighth in England, and Dortmund had finished second in Germany. Dortmund had also signed Andre Schurrle, one of my best friends in football.

“I remembered how much fun it had been the first time, when we won two league titles and got to the Champions League final. Maybe it would be like the good old days, you know? So I went back.

“And as much as I love Dortmund, I feel I missed a special journey with Jurgen. I didn’t understand that he needed time to build a great team at Liverpool. There was really no need for me to play in the Champions League straight away I didn’t think that far ahead.”