A chain reaction in real life situations can be defined as an incident which offsets another which in turn sets off another and so on. One such amazing chain reaction involving Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and Wolfsburg as well as their managers and certain players led to Kevin De Bruyne joining Manchester City and Henrikh Mkhitaryan joining Manchester United.
This chain of eight events happened between 2013 and 2016.
April 2013: Mario Gotze joins Bayern Munich as he wishes to play under Pep Guardiola
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Borussia Dortmund’s golden boy, Mario Gotze, decided to announce his decision to join rivals Bayern Munich, barely 36 hours before the club’s crucial Champions League semifinal game against Real Madrid.
Jurgen Klopp, the then manager of Borussia Dortmund, revealed that Gotze’s wish to play under Pep Guardiola was the reason behind his decision.
June 2013: Borussia Dortmund close in on signing Kevin De Bruyne from Chelsea as Mario Gotze’s replacement
With Gotze gone, Klopp was in the market for a new attacking midfielder and his first choice was Kevin De Bruyne.
De Bruyne had spent the 2012-13 season on loan with Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. Bremen finished 14th in the league with just four points more than the last relegated team. However, De Bruyne was one of the bright spots in an otherwise poor season as the Belgian scored 10 goals in 33 appearances from midfield.
June 2013: Liverpool push hard to sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Shakhtar Donetsk
While Klopp was busy trying to sign De Bruyne, his current club Liverpool were busy trying to sign another attacking midfielder. The Reds were constantly linked with Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Shakhtar Donetsk and negotiations were going strongly.
Mkhitaryan was a rather unknown player when Liverpool were actively pursuing him but he finished the 2012-13 season as the top scorer of the Ukrainian Premier League by scoring a record 25 goals. He did this while operating as an attacking midfielder and in just 29 games!
It looked like Mkhitaryan’s arrival was only a matter of time.
June 2013: Jose Mourinho refuses to sell Kevin De Bruyne
De Bruyne returned to Chelsea after his loan spell with Werder Bremen to join newly appointed manager Jose Mourinho. Chelsea already had players like Eden Hazard, Oscar and Mata in the squad and De Bruyne was not assured of a starting role at Stamford Bridge.
The young Belgian was tempted to join Jurgen Klopp’s project at Borussia Dortmund as he was assured of playing time. He even had a personal agreement with Klopp but that’s when Jose Mourinho stepped in.
In an interview with the Telegraph De Bruyne revealed what exactly happened.
“I had a personal agreement [with Klopp] I asked the club [Chelsea] to go because I had a good feeling about Dortmund at the time. I had been good in Germany and he [Klopp] really wanted me because [Mario] Gotze went to Bayern Munich."He called me, and said ‘You will be the No 1’ at a team who had been second in the Bundesliga and in the Champions League final.
“At the time I thought it was a good decision to go but the manager [Mourinho] told me ‘You need to stay and you will get your chance here’. I accepted it and we moved on.”
June 2013: Jurgen Klopp convinces Henrikh Mkhitaryan to join Borussia Dortmund and not Liverpool
After De Bruyne decided to stay at Chelsea, Klopp turned his attention elsewhere and Borussia Dortmund quickly made a move for Mkhitaryan. In an interview with the Daily Mail, the player revealed how Klopp convinced him to join Dortmund and not Liverpool.
"I spoke two or three times on the phone to Rodgers, he was saying he really wanted me and that I would get to play with Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard," Mkhitaryan said.
"Half of me thought I had to go there, the other half was not so confident, that the gap to the Premier League might be too big for a skinny player from the Ukrainian League.
"Two weeks later, Klopp broke off his holiday on an island next to Denmark to come and see me in Dortmund. I knew he had a good reputation for working with younger players and, after we met, I felt more comfortable to sign for Dortmund. I think I made the right decision."
Liverpool’s failure to land Mkhitaryan proved costly to them. They turned their attention to Willian but the player was more tempted by an offer from Spurs before he decided to join Chelsea. Liverpool ended the transfer window by signing Victor Moses on loan as they failed to land their primary target.
January 2014: Kevin De Bruyne joins Wolfsburg
De Bruyne’s decision to stay at Chelsea was because of Mourinho's promise to give him playing time. However, he only made 5 starts (3 in the League Cup) for the club in all competitions in the first half of the season.
He returned to the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg as there was no place for him in Dortmund anymore because they had already signed Mkhitaryan in the summer.
In 2014-15, his first full season with Wolfsburg, De Bruyne scored 10 goals and provided 20 assists in 34 league games as Wolfsburg finished in second place. He also scored the winning goal in the final of the German cup, DFB Pokal and funnily enough, it was against Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund.
August 2015: Kevin De Bruyne joins Manchester City
The Belgian midfielder was named the Bundesliga player of the season for 2014-15 and Manchester City rewarded him by signing him for £55m!
Interestingly, he now plays for Manchester City under Pep Guardiola – the man for whom Mario Gotze left Borussia Dortmund and started this whole chain!
The plot thickens!
July 2016: Mkhitaryan joins Manchester United and Gotze returns to Borussia Dortmund
Henrikh Mkhitaryan had a terrific spell with Borussia Dortmund. In his final season with the club, he scored 19 goals and provided 24 assists in 53 games across all competitions. He joined Manchester United in the summer and that was a move which would have never happened if he had joined Liverpool in 2013. We now know, why he joined Dortmund instead of Liverpool.
Meanwhile, the man whose transfer started it all, Mario Gotze, returned to Borussia Dortmund after three seasons with the Bavarian club. His desire to play under Guardiola took him there and in the end he got benched and frustrated because of the same manager.
After returning from Bayern Munich, Gotze revealed that he regrets his decision to leave Dortmund in the first place. Just imagine if Gotze did not make the move to Bayern Munich, then the careers of De Bruyne and Mkhitaryan could have been very different.
