DBasia.news – Bayer Leverkusen head coach, Peter Bosz claimed thT Mario Gotze wanted to join his team, but his club turned down the opportunity to sign the Germany international.
Gotze, who left Borussia Dortmund as a free agent at the end of last season, recently joined Dutch club PSV on a two-year contract.
The 28-year-old player has been linked with clubs across Europe and Germany, while another Bundesliga club, Hertha Berlin also confirmed their interest last month.
Bosz, who coached Gotze at Dortmund in 2017, said the midfielder would like to join his team but they would rather give the potential young talent, Florian Wirtz more opportunities.
“He wants to move to Leverkusen,” Bosz told De Telegraaf of Gotze.
“We already have Florian Wirtz for this position. The club has strong intentions to develop his talent even further.”
Bosz also expressed his surprise that Gotze chose to move to his home country, the Netherlands, and actually hoped he would choose a bigger league.
“You would expect someone like Mario Gotze on the big football stage at a big club. PSV is a big club, but in a smaller football country,” he stated.
Gotze spent four seasons with Dortmund between 2016 and 2020, but was left out of Lucien Favre’s first team last season.
The midfielder made 21 appearances in all competitions for Favre in 2019/20, and towards the end of the season he announced he would be leaving as a free agent.
After several months without a club, Gotze said upon arriving at PSV that he was looking forward to the challenge of playing outside Germany for the first time in his career.
“I had a lot of offers this summer but I am a person who has feelings and makes my own decisions,” Gotze told PSV’s official website.
“I feel ready for a very different challenge and I believe it will be a comfortable transition for me.”
After the international break, Gotze is likely to make his debut with PSV in an Eredivisie match against PEC Zwolle on October 18.