Mario Götze is his talent as a footballer. He makes intelligent runs, both through the middle or from out wide, has superb control and is an accomplished finisher as well. Anyone who watched Dortmund’s opening game with Hamburg this season, or Germany 3-2 friendly win over Brazil in opre-season, would have recognised that he’s a player good enough to build a team around, and definitely one good enough to play in Manchester United’s team.
He would have undoubtedly brought a lot of quality (and quantity) to the midfield. As obvious as his natural talent is, his schooling as a footballer has in large part helped to make him the player he is today. Dortmund’s academy, rather like Barcelona’s La Masia complex, has the luxury of state-of-the-art facilities, while young players actually live in dormitories at the academy complex – the effectively ‘live’ football.
Players are coached with an emphasis on technique rather than strength, fluidity rather than rigidity. Watch Götze in a Dortmund game (or, for example, Germany’s defeat of England in Bloemfontaine last summer), and you can notice the type of football that young German players are taught to play. Dortmund also play a brand of football which is attractive, pacey, and in which Götze has been fundamental for over a season now. It’s not difficult to imagine him playing in that Germany side which humiliated England at the World Cup last year.
What we also shouldn’t forget about Mario Götze is that, despite being just 19 years of age, he has amassed a decent amount of experience for his age. He’s only made 42 Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund, but the majority of those were as a starter, and this season he’s been a guaranteed regular.
I hear you cry "is he suited to the Premier League?". "He's too small, he'll get bullied off the ball". Well if you look across to the blue side of Manchester, David Silva plies his trade in the most scintillating fashion. A small dimunitive figure playing the most wonderful football, he came from a different league and has fitted into the Premier League like a glove.
Sir Alex Ferguson said he wants to give youth a chance, buying players would halt their development. However are the likes of Darron Gibson really going to make an impact ? Tom Cleverley and Mario Gotze would form a formidable centre pairing. With Paul Pogba (if he stays). If SIr Alex Ferguson want to promote young players, he should buy a 19 year old born in Memmingen Germany. Its time Sir Alex and you know it !
