On one side of the equation, Mario Götze is reportedly 100% on his way to Borussia Dortmund. On the other side of the equation, things are decidedly a little more murky.

On the crystal clear side is Sport BILD. They report the clubs have agreed to a €28M transfer fee with Götze himself agreed to sign a 5-year contract. The only thing left for the clubs to do is dot the i’s and cross the t’s. There are two problems with that: a) the report also dropped by BILD today says that the teams are negotiating over a fee somewhere between €22M and €27M. Last time I checked, €28M is more than either of those numbers, and b) it’s Sport BILD.

On the opposite end is Süddeutsche Zeitung who spoke with Dortmund CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke,

"We stated that we would give Mario some thought when it became clear that he'll be on the market. I don't know yet whether that will be the case." - Suddeutsche Zeitung

Bayern and Dortmund are still negotiating with Götze’s agent, Peter Duvinage, and the teams are far apart on a transfer fee. Dortmund reportedly are seeking a fee in the range of €20M while Bayern are seeking the €27M also reported by BILD. Unfortunately for Dortmund, their upper limit on a price is about €22M.

In addition, Mario Götze’s astronomical wage package at Bayern Munich is a very big issue — remember he joined Bayern for wages that were reportedly in excess of €12M annually — for Dortmund. SZ reports that Bayern Munich could end up on the hook for some remuneration in this deal. If that’s the case you can bet that this is probably going to turn into one huge mess of transfer story before it gets resolved.

All in all, the Mario Götze situation seems to be far from over. Maybe Sport BILD has it right and this is done and dusted on Monday but I sincerely doubt it. The wage package is the sticking point here. If Götze’s unwilling to take an overall pay cut of any kind and Bayern and Dortmund can’t agree, there’s really no way he ends up at Dortmund. Die Schwargelben just doesn’t have the financial capability to go toe-to-toe for one of Bayern’s highest paid assets.

There’s a reason why Tottenham Hotspur are still involved in this equation and that’s the Premier League TV money. And that’s why if they’re truly a realistic destination — and by SZ accounts they are given his girlfriend would like to live London — they’re going to remain in the equation up to the bitter end.