Mario Gotze illness not short-term - Borussia Dortmund's Watzke
Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has said the club are not expecting Mario Gotze to return in the near future.
Gotze, 24, was ruled out "for the time being" when a comprehensive internal investigation revealed the Germany international has "metabolic disturbances."The BVB midfielder has previously missed several matches in 2017 with what the club said were "muscular problems," which prompted the investigation into the possible cause.
The 2014 World Cup winner has already withdrawn from team training and said that he's "currently undergoing treatment" and that he would do everything in his power to return as soon as possible.
However, speaking to Bild, Watzke ruled out that Gotze will return to the pitch for Dortmund anytime soon, saying: "It won't be a short-term thing."
Although several outlets in Germany have speculated about the exact diagnosis, Dortmund have made no further comment.
Meanwhile, Dortmund travel to third-tier side Sportfreunde Lotte on Tuesday for their DFB Pokal quarterfinal.
Having beaten the two representatives of the German capital Berlin -- Union and Hertha -- in penalty shootouts at the Westfalenstadion in the two previous rounds, BVB go into the tie as favourites.
But Lotte have already eliminated Bundesliga sides Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen as well as second tier club TSV 1860 Munich from the competition, and coach Thomas Tuchel expects to face a "very aggressive, very emotional and courageous" opponent.
The third-tier club have not played at their 10,059 capacity Sportpark am Lotter Kreuz since beating TSV 180 Munich in early February with two league games called off because of the bad pitch.
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