Bayern chairman seems beneficiary as Gotze turns down Arsenal

At first, this seems a strange moment for reports to circulate that Bayern Munich have met the minimum fee release clause of €37m to sign Mario Gotze from chief Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund.

After all, both are involved in valuable Champions League semi finals and all focus should be targeted towards these matches rather than summer transfer activity.

However, one reason for the timing of the supposed deal could be to ensure that all Bayern-related news returns to being positive and about football matters.

It should certainly turn down any heat on Bayern chairman Uli Hoeness, who has been in the news for the wrong reasons of late because of a suspected tax evasion on a Swiss bank account.

The fallout of the revelations certainly threatened to overshadow Bayern’s first leg with Barcelona because of his standing within the German game, but the Gotze news should see the focus of reports change.

Gotze’s arrival would certainly add some further talent to an already-stacked Bayern squad and it will be interesting to see where he is utilised by Pep Guardiola next season.

There is a possibility that Gotze will play as a false number nine in a similar role to Lionel Messi at Barcelona or, alternatively, Toni Kroos could possibly drop a little deeper and the 20-year-old would then move into an attacking midfield trio with Franck Ribery and Thomas Muller.

The other big hope will be that the departure doesn’t bring an end to Dortmund’s needed challenge to Bayern at the head of the Bundesliga standings. No league benefits from a lack of competition for honours.

However, such signings are nothing new to Bayern, as they signed Miroslav Klose from Werder Bremen when they were considered challengers and Mario Gomez from Stuttgart.

Robert Lewandowski and Marco Reus are others that are being chased by some of Europe’s bigger clubs and Gotze leaving may persuade them that their futures also lie elsewhere.

Arsenal were previously linked heavily with Gotze but could do just as well to get Reus, while Manchester United could sign striker Lewandowski.

What would certainly be interesting would be if Gotze scored the Dortmund winner in a Champions League final with Bayern and it is 6/1 that an all-German final takes place this season.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.