Player of the Season nominees: Mario Gotze

With the season having ended, Sportskeeda decided to let its viewers rate the 30 best players of the season.

We will be shortlisting 30 of the best performers this term, and let you pick your winner.

What do you think? Have your say at the end of the article.

Who is he?

He wears the Number 10 jersey, is one of the most gifted footballers in contemporary football, sprints very quickly with or without the ball at his feet, bamboozles defenders and juggles the ball past them with utmost ease, assists not just the goals but the team’s wins entirely, possesses great skill when it comes to converting freekicks, can deceive keepers with those delicate chip shots or give them no chance whatsoever with a powerful bullet. He turned a star for his club but is yet to achieve any notable success with the national team – sounds like Lionel Messi, doesn’t he? Well, that’s what he was coined by pundits – the German Messi!

Franz Beckenbauer said that Mario Gotze “has the same assets as Lionel Messi in terms of his technique and understanding of the game.”

Career Highlights:

Club: Borussia Dortmund

A product of their youth academy, Gotze took the golden opportunity given to him by coach Jurgen Klopp with both hands and cemented his place in the first team in the latter half of the 2009-10 season. He immediately became a prime figure in the midfield and adapted to the playmaking role beautifully. Assisting 15 times and scoring 6 goals in the 2010-11 season, Gotze guided Dortmund to the title. Gotze held the Golden Boy award in 2011 which was once held by Messi and Aguero.

Although he played only half of the 2011-12 season, he still managed to win another title with Dortmund.

With the signing of Marco Reus from Borussia Monchengladbach, he and Gotze formed an impeccable partnership and emerged as one of the best attacking duos in Europe in 2012-13. They had 19 league goals (Reus 11, Götze 8) and 15 assists (9 and 6 respectively) combined, which meant they were directly involved in over half their side’s 62 league goals last season.

Franz Beckenbauer spoke about Reus and Mario Götze, saying, “…as a classic duo there is nobody better than the prolific Reus and Götze.”

Gotze was a crucial first team member for Dortmund which reached the UEFA Champions League final after 16 years! Had he played in the all-German finale against the Bavarians, his impact could’ve altered the course of the game in Dortmund’s favour.

Gotze secured a transfer to Dortmund rivals Bayern Munich when they triggered the €37 million release clause in his contract. He is the latest Mario at the Allianz Arena!

With national team:

Gotze made his international debut in 2010. Although Reus has secured a fairly regular starting berth, Gotze has been unable to. Although he has deserved a place in the playing XI, nobody can be blamed for his irregular game time. Loew has a huge talented battalion at his disposal with the likes of Ozil, Muller, Kroos, Reus etc. However, at just 21 years of age, Gotze is here to stay, improve further and probably carve his name in history!

5 things you ought to know about this little magician

Goetze’s first goal for Germany came against Brazil at the age of 19 years and 68 days and he became the joint youngest goalscorer for the German national team in the post-war era along with Klaus Sturmer in 1954.

The German transfer is set to make Götze the most expensive German player of all time.

He’s called “Super Mario”, but unlike ladies man Balotelli, he still lives with his parents in a modest house close to Dortmund.

Recently, he was listed 34th in “The 100 Best Footballers in the World” by The Guardian.

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has revealed that Pep Guardiola wanted to sign Neymar but Bayern suggested the purchase of Mario Gotze from Borussia Dortmund instead.