Borussia Dortmund exit confirmed for Gotze as Zorc hints at World Cup winner leaving Germany

Borussia Dortmund will be severing ties with Mario Gotze when his contract expires in the summer, sporting director Michael Zorc has confirmed.

The World Cup winner is set to see his current deal with the Bundesliga giants come to a close at the end of the 2019-20 campaign.

No fresh terms will be put to him, meaning that the 27-year-old is set to drop into the free agent pool.

Gotze has struggled to make the expected impact since returning to Dortmund in 2016 from a three-year spell at Bayern Munich.

With BVB now favouring other options, a highly-decorated product of the club’s academy system will once again be allowed to go in search of new challenges elsewhere.

Zorc told Sky Deutschland: “I have had a very good conversation with Mario in the past few days. We have agreed that we will not continue our cooperation after the season.

“I think that is in the best interests of both parties.

“Mario is a really good boy and I think this season he will still be important to us.”

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Dortmund have made a return to action after an enforced break during the coronavirus pandemic.

Gotze did form part of their plans for a derby date with Schalke, but saw only three minutes off the bench in a convincing 4-0 win and that outing was just his 20th of the season, with only five starts made in the Bundesliga this term.

He has admitted in the past to finding it difficult to cope with the attention his World Cup-winning goal in 2014 generated.

Questions are being asked of whether he can ever recapture the form that once made him one of European football’s hottest prospects, with it unclear as to which direction he will head in from this point.

A move to the Premier League has been mooted in the past, with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp a long-standing admirer of a player he worked with in Dortmund, but a step backwards may be required before establishing forward momentum again.

Zorc expects that to happen outside of Germany, with Gotze being tipped to spread his wings.

“He is a very good player who comes from our own youth system,” Zorc added.

“But it is also in his spirit that he is looking for a new job. Maybe abroad.”