Kevin Prince Boateng : I wanted to return to Hertha Berlin but Klinsmann ignored me

Kevin-Prince Boateng of Besiktas celebrates after their team scored a goal during the Turkish super Lig soccer match between Besiktas and Trabzonspor at the Vodafone Park in Istanbul, Turkey on February 22, 2020.

Kevin Prince Boateng has disclosed he wanted to rejoin Hertha Berlin in January to help establish the club as a football giant again but his efforts were ignored by then-manager Jurgen Klinsmann.

Boateng is currently at Besiktas on loan from Fiorentina, but was keen on a return to the German capital where he grew up and started his career in 2005.

The forward says a text to the German legend went unanswered, scuppering his plans to also convince Mario Gotze and Julian Draxler to follow him in an effort to return Hertha as an 'attractive' club. 

“But there was never an answer (from Klinsmann),” Boateng told Der Spiegel.

“In the summer, I would simply have picked up the phone, called Gotze and Draxler and said, 'Come here, boys, let's build something here'. That was my plan, so that I could make Hertha attractive again".

Both Gotze and Draxler, both 2014 World Cup winners, were heavily linked with moves to Klinsmann's side in January but the moves didn't materialise.

Klinsmann has since stepped down from his position as manager in February after spending just 10 weeks in the hotseat.
Gotze looks set to end his stay with fellow Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund when his contract expires this summer, while Draxler has failed to live up to expectations since signing for Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.

And the former Tottenham and Portsmouth midfielder revealed he had grand plans for his boyhood club if he could secure the move, which extended to more than just on the pitch.

“We would then have worked with Berlin rappers who also love football and would have pulled everyone in, we would have written a new 'home' song, a remix of the stadium anthem,” Boateng added.

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