Mario Gotze is returning to his boyhood club Borussia Dortmund for a fee reported to be around £22million but fans of the club have remained sceptical over his acrimonious fallout leaving for Bayern Munich in 2013.
The 24-year-old had joined Dortmund’s great rivals three years ago after they bid €37m to activate his release clause, though the move was extremely unpopular with Dortmund supporters at the time.
Wasting no time as news of his deal got confirmed, Gotze went to Facebook and posted this:
“When I switched to Bayern in 2013 it was a conscious decision which I will not hide myself behind. Today, three years later and at 24, I look at that decision in a different light. It was not a decision I would make today,” he posted.
Gotze knows about the mixed feelings sections of the fans will have towards him, but in his outreach he referred to BVB as his “home” and said that he will try to convert those that “do not welcome me with open arms”.
He will be a direct replacement for Henrikh MKhitaryan at the Westfalenstadion, the Armenian midfielder left Dortmund to join Manchester United.