Mario Gotze @ Borussia Dortmund
After an acrimonious departure, just three seasons later Mario Gotze is back at his boyhood club and will take some amount of effort to win over those whose hearts he broke by leaving for rivals Bayern in 2013.
Despite winning seven trophies in those three years – plus becoming the nation’s darling by scoring a World Cup clinching goal – there appeared little sunshine for Mario in Munich, as he found himself starting on the bench more often than not.
With no assurances that life would change after Guardiola’s departure under new Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti, strong rumours gathered that Gotze was set to be reunited with Liverpool FC’s Jürgen Klopp, whom he enjoyed his breakthrough years with.
A change in agent representation – with his father now looking after his son’s interests – saw a club, rather than coach, reunion however, and Gotze knows he has a lot of work to do to win over his critics, stating:
I hope that I can convince my last critics by performing well again. However, I can understand the notions of some fans…I want to show my best football [here].
With Gotze facing Bayern in first (or is that second?) official game for Dortmund in the German Super Cup on August 14, he’ll have quite an early chance to begin building some black and yellow bridges.
