Germany’s World Cup winning goalscorer Mario Goetze has returned to Borussia Dortmund after a frustrating three seasons with Bayern Munich, the clubs announced yesterday. The 24-year-old has never established himself with the German champions.
The clubs did not give a transfer fee but reports said Dortmund paid between 22 and 25 million euros ($24-27.5 million). That would mean Bayern have booked a loss of about 13 million euros on the price they paid for Goetze. Bayern president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge called the deal ‘a good solution for all sides’.
Goetze scored the winning goal in Germany’s World Cup final triumph over Argentina in 2014. But under Pep Guardiola, he was often on the Bayern substitutes’ bench. He was also often among the replacements for Germany at Euro 2016.
Bayern’s new coach Carlo Ancelotti had hinted in recent weeks that he has told Goetze to find a new club. Dortmund fans repeatedly jeered Goetze when he appeared for Bayern against his old team. The player said he now has ‘a different view’ of his decision to move. “I want to try to convince everyone with my performances, especially those who are welcoming me with open arms,” he said. In recent weeks, Dortmund have lost defender Mats Hummels to Bayern, midfielder Henrich Mchitarjan to Manchester United and defender Ilkay Gundogan to Manchester City.
Everton name Leicester’s Walsh as director of football
Steve Walsh, whose eye for talent helped Leicester City win the Premier League title last season, has been named as director of football at Everton, the Premier League club said yesterday. Walsh was joint assistant manager and head of recruitment at Leicester and is said to have played an instrumental role in bringing influential players, such as winger Riyad Mahrez and mifielder N’Golo Kante, to the club.
Walsh’s departure will come as a big blow to Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri, who had already lost highly-rated scout Ben Wrigglesworth to Arsenal in February. Rob Mackenzie, another member of Leicester’s recruitment team, was installed as Tottenham Hotspur’s head of talent identification last year. Ronald Koeman’s Everton host Tottenham at Goodison Park in their
opening game of the new Premier League campaign on Aug. 13.
Halilovic joins Hamburg from Barcelona
Spanish champions Barcelona sold promising Croatia midfielder Alen Halilovic to Hamburg, with the La Liga side including a buy-back option in the deal. Halilovic, 20, joined Barca in 2014 from Dinamo Zagreb and spent the past season on loan at Sporting Gijon, who narrowly avoided relegation from Spain’s top flight. The attacking midfielder was left out of Croatia’s Euro 2016 squad, while Barca have the option over the next two seasons to re-sign Halilovic from Hamburg for 10 million euros ($11 million).
Title-starved Lazio hope to be crowned champions - of 1915
Lazio are hoping they will soon be crowned Italian champions for a third time –by winning the title for the 1914/15 season, which was interrupted by World War One.
After more than 30,000 Lazio supporters signed a petition, the Italian football federation (FIGC) has set up a commission to look at whether Lazio should share the title with Genoa. Genoa and Lazio were due to meet in an-end-of-season final after each qualifying through their respective regions but Italy entered World War One before the game could be played. The match never took place and the matter was only addressed by the FIGC in 1919 when they decided to award the title to Genoa.
Italian media have said that the decision was based on the reasoning that Genoa were generally regarded as the better of the two teams. The FIGC is expected to announce its decision on Aug 4 and, if it rules in Lazio’s favour, they would pull level with neighbours and arch-rivals AS Roma on three Italian titles.
In its early years, from 1898 until 1926, the Italian championship consisted of regionalised qualifying groups, with a one-off end-of-season final to decide the winners, and excluded teams from the south of the country. From 1926 to 1929, a national championship was played, although with teams still divided into two groups. Serie A, a single national league, was started in 1929.
Juventus are Italy’s most successful domestic club with 32 titles, followed by Inter Milan and AC Milan and 18 each.
Mario Goetze
