The national striker returns to the cradle of his success.
(Photo: AP)
Stuttgart National soccer player Mario Gomez makes a surprising move from VfL Wolfsburg to VfB Stuttgart in the second half of the Bundesliga season. As both clubs announced on Friday, the 32-year-old striker will return to his hometown club. There Gomez received a contract until June 30, 2020. “He is approaching the return to his home club with incredible joy and emotion as well as irrepressible motivation,” said VfB sporting director Michael Reschke.
In return, winger Josip Brekalo, who has been loaned out by the Swabian promoted team, is moving back to Wolfsburg from Stuttgart with immediate effect. “Josip made the development in Stuttgart that we had hoped for. He was able to gain match practice at VfB and has continued to mature. Now we are happy that he is returning early and can take the next step in his development with us,” said Olaf Rebbe, sporting director of VfL Wolfsburg, in a club statement.
According to dpa information, the fee for Gomez is more than three million euros. First, the “kicker” reported on the transfer. “In the past few weeks, I’ve been wanting to go back home and take advantage of the opportunity this winter,” said Gomez.
Wolfsburg coach Martin Schmidt explained: “He was always a role model, especially for the younger players, and a model professional with whom I personally really enjoyed working. We keep our fingers crossed that his dream of participating in the 2018 World Cup will come true.”
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The relegation-threatened Stuttgart want to solve their acute problems in the offensive with the scorer. In the 17 preliminary round games, coach Hannes Wolf’s team only scored 13 goals. In addition, the table-14. striker Simon Terodde to 1. FC Köln on Wednesday. Terodde had recently only been second choice at Wolf.
Gomez started his professional career in 2004 at VfB. From there he moved to Bayern Munich in 2009. He came to Wolfsburg in the summer of 2016 from AC Florenz and Besiktas Istanbul – and is now returning to his homeland.
