“?Mario Gotze lasted just three years at Bayern Munich after his big money move from boyhood club Borussia Dortmund, returning home this summer after it seemed he was denied enough opportunity to impress by manager Pep Guardiola.
But rather than suppress Gotze with limited chances in Munich, new information suggests that Guardiola, now of course in charge at Manchester City, actually gave the 2014 World Cup final goalscorer more of his time than anyone else in a bid to try and help him flourish.
According to a short snippet published by Bild of the latest Guardiola biography by esteemed author Marti Perarnau, the former Barcelona coach was constantly ‘picking the brain’ of Gotze to establish how he could get the best out of the €37m talent.
“He did not devote as much time to any other player as he did [to Gotze]” Perarnau has revealed.
He wasn’t always so helpful to others during his time at the Allianz Arena, though, as Mario Mandzukic got on the wrong side of him while Bastian Schweinsteiger didn’t really fit his plans.
“So, then, was everything peace, joy, and gingerbread? Certainly not!” Perarnau wrote.
“Pep sent Mandzukic to the wilderness. He asked Thiago (Alcantara) more than anybody else, as if he were his own son. And he tried to push Schweinsteiger into a play system in which he was not comfortable.”
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