Götze reflects on Frankfurt role: "I feel like the grandpa here." | OneFootball

As difficult as it may be to fathom, Mario Götze's career was seriously threatened some four years ago. After being released by Dortmund on an expiring contract at the end of the 2019/20 campaign, the scorer of Germany's 2014 World Cup winning goal spent the entire summer as a club-less free-agent.

No club - not even Peter Bosz's Leverkusen - were interested in touching him. PSV Eindhoven didn't end up singing Götze until well after the transfer deadline. Some thought the diminutive footballer with the metabolic disorder should retire.

In an interview with Kicker Magazine at the time, Götze insisted that he wished to play on in order to win the Champions' League. Götze just missed out on the opportunity to capture the Europa League crown with his current club, but may yet be able to fulfill this ambition with Eintracht Frankfurt.

Eintracht trainer Dino Toppmöller has twice allowed Götze to serve on the attacking right wing this season. In both instances (as Toppmöller himself even prophesied yesterday) he's scored a goal for the SGE. The Hessians are now bonafide title contenders thanks to Götze.

"We have to be realistic," Götze said of his team's title prospects whilst speaking at the Sky Sports pitch-side desk after the Saturday night Topspiel, "It's a long season [though it was pointed out to him that the season is one-third of the way through]."

"We have a young team and there will be fluctuations," Götze nevertheless insisted, "We also have to look at our games individually. We only won 1-0 against Bremen, drew 1-1 against Union, and nearly drew against Stuttgart."

"We have a lot of young players, good players," Götze also said, "And we have a lot of quality. It's extremely fun here. And that's what it's always about: football and having fun.”

"I feel like the grandpa here," he remarked with a smile, "The focus is more on regeneration and discussions with the coach and the fitness department. I can't play 90 minutes every game in English weeks."