Borussia Dortmund star Mario Gotze will continue to be sidelined for at least a little while longer while he undergoes treatment for what the club has confirmed as 'metabolic disturbances.'
Gotze, who has struggled to rediscover his best form ever since returning to his boyhood side from Bayern Munich in summer, hasn't played since a 24 minute cameo against Mainz last month.
"I'm currently undergoing treatment and will do everything in my power to be back in training and helping my team to achieve our common goals as soon as possible," Gotze told BVB.de.
Sporting Director Michael Zorc added, "We're happy to have now uncovered the reasons for Mario's difficulties and are convinced that his extraordinary abilities will give us additional quality once he has completely recovered from this.
"Mario has the full backing and maximum support of everyone at BVB during his recovery!"
On the pitch, Dortmund have fallen as many as 13 points behind Bayern in the Bundesliga standings as the title looks set to stay in Bavaria for a fifth straight season.
Thomas Tuchel's side recently suffered a disappointing run of just two wins in sevenleague games, only brought that to an end with recent back-to-back victories over Wolfsburg and Freiburg in their last two league outings.
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