MUNICH (AP) — Leon Goretzka will leave Bayern Munich when his contract expires at the end of the season after turning down a January transfer opportunity.
The German midfielder has been with Bayern since 2018, won the Champions League in 2020 and is aiming for a seventh Bundesliga title with the club this season.
“His journey at Bayern will be over by the summer,” Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said ahead of the club’s announcement. Bundesliga match Saturday’s match against Hamburger SV.
He added that the club and Goretzka had discussed “specific inquiries” from other teams, but that Goretzka wanted to see out the remaining months of his contract due to Bayern’s good form this season.
“While I am honored by the interest from a top international club, I have clearly decided that I want to remain at FC Bayern until the end of the season,” Goretzka wrote on Instagram, adding that he would like to end his eight years at the club with a typical Bayern trophy celebration with the fans in Munich’s main square.
Goretzka said he felt it was “the right time to start a new chapter once again, both as a football player and as a person,” but did not mention his future destination.
Goretzka has appeared in 28 games for Bayern this season, but has only started 16 of them, with manager Vincent Kompany often favoring Aleksandar Pavlovic in central midfield alongside Joshua Kimmich.
Goretzka, 30, also made headlines this week in an interview he gave to German newspaper Die Zeit. said US President Donald Trump has “succeeded in making us feel European, not just German.”
Goretzka has appeared in 67 games for Germany, including every game the national team has qualified for this year’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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