​Mario Gotze is in line to return from his five-month spell on the sidelines in time for pre-season training with Borussia Dortmund.





The Die Borussia star has been out of action since February due to an illness referred to as a 'metabolic disease' by the club's medical team - an issue that helped restrict Gotze to just 16 appearances for the Bundesliga outfit last season.





German news outlet ​Welt has now claimed that Gotze should return to full training in time for the 2017/18 pre-season schedule in a boost to new Dortmund boss Peter Bosz, who took up the reins of the German side after Thomas Tuchel's departure.

Gotze's fitness levels had come in for questioning during his first season back as a permanent member of Dortmund's senior squad as the 25-year-old completed the full 90 minutes on just six occasions from his 16 outings in 2016/17.





In a bid to get to the bottom of the problem, Gotze was sent for tests where it was revealed that a metabolic disorder was to blame for his inability to either last entire matches or even to be fit enough to feature at all.





Dortmund's chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke confirmed back in February that Gotze's spell on the treatment table would not be a "short-term thing" and the playmaker has seen plenty of specialists over the last five months to finally get to the bottom of the issue.

Mario Götze makes very good progress after his metabolic disease. He has already lost about five kilos in his... https://t.co/UMASnvyPYW — BVB India (@BVBIndiaFC) June 13, 2017

Germany head coach Joachim Low provided an update on Gotze's ongoing situation back in April, and claimed that his treatment was progressing well.





He said: "Mario feels very well at the moment. He has been prescribed a therapy that has been quite good."





The setback was the latest in long line of problems for Gotze ever since he left Dortmund to join fierce rivals Bayern Munich for £31m in July 2013.

A number of injuries including calf strains, a pulled hamstring, abductor problems and a knee issue all ensured that Gotze's spell at the Allianz Arena was a shadow of what it could have been and, despite firing Germany to 2014 World Cup glory, failed to light up the international and domestic stage during his three-year spell with Bayern.





Those problems continued to persist after his £18m move back to Dortmund last summer, but it is now hoped that Gotze will be fully recuperated to lead Dortmund forward into next term.



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