Last month, Borussia Dortmund announced that Mario Gotze would be out for an indefinite period after investigations found the German has ‘metabolic disturbances’.
It’s very sad news for a player blessed with tremendous talent. Gotze, who has been linked with Liverpool, is only 24-years-old; he should be developing into a world-beater, not awaiting treatment for his disorder.
Gotze’s father, Jurgen, recently shed some light on the playmaker’s current predicament.
“At the moment Mario is OK but there is not much he can do besides sitting at home and waiting,” Jurgen told Bild.
“There is no plan for the therapy and the exact treatment he will get will be decided shortly.
"We all have to be patient. He has to get going now.”
Gotze: I won't be the old Gotze again
Just months before his diagnosis, Gotze gave a pretty revealing interview in which he expressed doubts about his ability to return to the heights he reached as a teenager.
Gotze was 22 when he had his finest moment, scoring the winner in the 2014 World Cup final, but those days are long gone now.
“Should I get back to playing like the 18-year-old Mario Gotze again?,” the Dortmund midfielder told Bild, via the Daily Mail, in November.
“Every player develops over time, as does every team and every opponent. I will never be the old Mario Gotze again.”
Further details of his metabolic problem have emerged
Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke insists Gotze’s absence won’t be a “short-term thing”, and further details of the player’s illness don’t make for entirely pleasant reading.
According to Bild - via Marca - ‘the specific problem is a muscular myopathy one, a type of chronic muscle inflammation’.
Symptoms of myopathy can include muscle weakness and fatigue, while the recovery time can be extended.
The problem is treatable and we look forward to Gotze’s return.