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What's the story?
Leon Goretzka's contract ends in this summer and Schalke are looking to extend his contract to keep the 22-year old at the club for some more time. However, he is not going to renew his contract despite getting an offer of becoming the highest paid player in the club.
According to Marca, Goretzka has signed a pre-contract with Bayern Munich and will join the club for free in July.
In case you didn't know...
Until recently, it was believed that Liverpool were the front-runners to sign the 22-year old as the Reds are looking to replace Emre Can, who is believed to be a target for Juventus.
Goretzka has been a part of the Schalke team for 4 years and is one of their key players. He started to gain attention when he won the Confederations Cup earlier this year with Germany. The 22-year old was also an Olympic runner-up in 2016.
The heart of the matter
Schalke wanted to pin down their player and was willing to pay the German international €12m per season, according to Soccer News, but the player has had various offers on his way. Barcelona was also interested and are said to have wanted to sign him up as a reinforcement for the spine of the team.
Liverpool has also been looking to replace the seemingly-outbound Emre Can. There is also the distinct possibility that they could lose Philipe Coutinho to Barcelona as well, this explains why the Reds were desperate to land the player. Jurgen Klopp will now have to look elsewhere to sign a replacement.
It looks like Bayern Munich have won the race for Goretzka and the player will join them for free once his contract expires in the summer. It is also believed that the player had made up his mind a couple of months ago to join the Bundesliga champions.
Author's take
Players moving from different German clubs to Bayern is not something new. Players like Robert Lewandoski and Matt Hummels have joined Bayern for free in the past and now Leon Goretzka is added to that list.
Goretzka is a young and skilful player who looks to have a long career and fulfilling ahead. Moving to such a big club at this age would be something that the player will proud of and he will definitely be an asset to the team.
