Mario Gotze is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Borussia Dortmund and the German national team.
He prefers to play as a play-maker behind the main striker in the modern game but has been successfully deployed on the wings. The player had also been used as a false nine at Bayern Munich under Pep Guardiola.
The player is considered to be one of the hottest prospects in the game and possesses the skills to become a very important player in the near future.
After spending three years with SC Ronsberg, Gotze trained with FC Eintract Hombruch until the age of eight before his talents were recognized by Borussia Dortmund. He moved to the Dortmund academy in 2001.
Between 2001 and 2009, Gotze featured in different age groups for Dortmund before earning his Bundesliga debut on November 21, 2009 against Mainz. On the occasion, Gotze was brought on as a substitute for club captain Jakub Blaszcykowski.
Then Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp saw his potential and promoted him to the first team following the winter break of 2009-10. The player went on to shine as he took his chance and starred for Dortmund in their Bundesliga-winning season in 2010-11. Gotze contributed eight goals and 11 assists in all competitions for Borussia Dortmund in what was his first full season for the team.
On March 27, 2012, Gotze was rewarded by a new contract by Borussia that ran until the end of the 2016 season. The contract contained a 37 million Euro release clause in it. Dortmund ran riot that season as well as the side went on to claim the German league and Cup double on the occasion.
The team managed to hit 81 points for the season which was a Bundesliga record at that point of time. It has since been broken by Bayern Munich during the 2012-13 season. Dortmund also went on to beat Bayern 5-2 in the German Cup final in 2012 with Gotze finishing the season with seven goals and eight assists despite being out for action for three months with a hip injury.
The 2012-13 season proved to be a difficult one for Borussia and Gotze. Dortmund lost the league title to Bayern with the latter sealing the title in April. Bayern had also activated the release clause for Gotze’s signature and chose to make an announcement regarding the same at the eve of Dortmund’s Champions League semi-final clash against Real Madrid. That raised the bitterness between the two sides, who would subsequently square off at the final of the Champions League at London. Bayern won the contest by a solitary goal with Arjen Robben proving to be the difference between the two teams.
In the summer of 2013, with Pep Guardiola taking over the reins at Bayern Munich, Gotze jumped ship to Bayern Munich. The player scored 15 goals and bagged 14 assists in all competitions for Bayern in his debut season but was not an automatic choice in the team. In his second season, Gotze managed 15 goals once more in a total of 48 appearances in all competitions as Bayern won their second Bundesliga title on the bounce. In his final season for Bayern, Gotze’s performances tailed off and he was sparingly used by Guardiola.
On July 21, 2016, Borussia Dortmund reached an agreement to transfer Gotze from Bayern Munich for a reported fee of 30 million Euros.
Gotze has been a stand-out player for the German national team. He scored the decisive goal in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final against Argentina. Gotze has been capped 62 times by the German senior side and scored 17 goals in the process.
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