VfL Wolfsburg and Mario Gomez are parting company. Subject to a medical, the 32-year-old striker is to make an immediate move to VfB Stuttgart. The details of the transfer remain undisclosed.
A true role-model
"Mario has made himself almost invaluable to VfL Wolfsburg over the past year and a half. His goals last season were decisive in us maintaining top-flight status and in particularly difficult periods in the relegation battle, he led the way. As captain, he was always a true role-model for the team and the fans," stated VfL Sporting director Olaf Rebbe. "Due to his services to the club, we decided to grant his wish to return home to VfB Stuttgart in the winter. We wish him all the very best at VfB and hope his dream of being nominated for Germany’s World Cup squad comes true."
"Fingers crossed for his 2018 World Cup dream"
VfL head-coach Martin Schmidt: "Naturally you are reluctant to let a world class player like Mario go, but I respect his wish and I wish him all the very best for his future. He was always a role-model, especially for the younger players, and an exceptional professional. Working together with him personally was always great fun. We are of course keeping our fingers crossed that his 2018 World Cup dream comes true."
"Wolfsburg was and intensive phase in my career"
Mario Gomez made the move to VfL Wolfsburg from Italian Serie A side AC Firoentina in the summer of 2016. In the Green-White, the front-man made 52 competitive appearances scoring 19 goals – including the 1-0 winner in the relegation play-off home-leg against Eintracht Braunschweig. "I would like to express my thanks from the bottom of my heart for the time I’ve spent here. It was a fantastic period and my wife and I always felt very much at home in Wolfsburg. On the whole, it was a very intensive phase in my career, during which I matured more as a player and a person. The club and the team always placed a great deal of fate in me and I did my best to return that fate with my performances, passion, identification and responsibility," commented Mario Gomez. "Over the past few weeks, the desire to return to my home town has grown ever strong, as did the will to make the move now during the winter break. I would like to express my gratitude to all those in charge here at VfL for making this possible. I wish the Wolves all the best for this season and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that they go as far as possible in the cup."
Full-circle for Mario Gomez
With the move to VfB Stuttgart, the 71-time German international goes full-circle in his career. At 16, the striker moved to the Stuttgart youth academy, where he then went on to make his professional debut. Until 2009, the goal-getter made 121 league appearances for VfB (63 goals), became a Bundesliga champion and also a German international.
