In:
Matthias Schwarz (21yrs old, free transfer)
Zdravko Kuzmanovic (21yrs old, €8 mil)
Pavel Pogrebnyak (25yrs old, €4.8 mil)
Stefano Celozzi (20yrs old, €2.5 mil)
Alessandro Riedle (18yrs old, €150k)
Aliaksander Hleb (28yrs old, on loan, €2 mil)


Call ups:
Funk, Schieber, Didavi







Out:
Mario Gomez (24yrs old, €30 mil)
Danijel Ljuboja (31yrs old, free transfer)
Georges Mandjeck (20yrs old, on loan)


Sent down:
Manuel Fischer

If one does the math (I did) it’s easy to see that after all the transfers and everything else, Stuttgart still make out in the black up over €12 million. Not a bad haul considering the amount of talent brought in. Not only that, but those brought in are young players, some of which show a lot of promise and others who have already proven themselves on an international and big club level.

Keeping that in mind, I’m calling this transfer season a win, but just barely for now. The obvious monetary influx is a no brainer. They couldn’t have done much better than the haul they brought in for Gomez, unless the likes of Man City and Chelsea got into some sort of bidding war (I think his catestrophically awful less than average Euro 2008 turned a lot of those outside of Germany off to him.) It hurts that he goes to one of the biggest rivals in the Bundesliga but there was nobody else even coming close to matching that offer.

Until it’s proven that those who came in can consistently make up for all the goals Gomez put in and set up day in and day out, I don’t think one can call it a total victory yet. If the product on the field suffers, irregardless of the monetary influx, it can’t be a good thing. The litmus test will of course be the Champions League (survive and advance) and remaining in European contention in the Bundesliga for next year. If either one falters, I’d have to say it was a draw at best. Not only results wise, but monetarily too. The amount of money and exposure brought in for CL qualification cannot be understated.

But let’s remain optimistic. If everyone steps up to the plate like they’ve shown in the past then the team is taking a huge step in the right direction. Let’s hear your thoughts, and feel free to chastise/ridicule me if I’ve forgotten anything-

Stuttgart today announced the signing of Zdravko Kuzmanovic from Fiorentina to a 4 year contract. Spanish clubs Sevilla and Atletico Madrid were also reportedly interested in his services.

I think this is a solid signing; he should be able to slot in right away, and bolsters a midfield squad a bit light with Lanig injured. At only 22, he’s already got 20+ caps for the Serbian National Team and was a regular in the midfield for La Viola. It says something when teams like Sevilla and Atletico Madrid were going after him too. Always a good thing to add a younger player with international experience into the squad as well.

I can’t say I’ve ever been an avid Serie A fan and as such haven’t really seen him play as much as perhaps some of you others have. Any further insight would be great to hear but get excited folks, we’ve got a talented core with some up and coming younger players-

Here’s some thoughts from the man himself-

“I’m delighted that the move to VfB Stuttgart worked out so shortly before the end of the transfer period. VfB is a club with a long tradition, fantastic surroundings and a success-hungry team. I want to play my part in helping achieve their goals.”

And Herr Babbel-

“Zvravko Kuzmanovic is a modern midfielder. He has an exceptional reading of the game and is a strong tackler. Despite his young years, he has an impressive amount of international experience and that will surely help him integrate quickly into our team.”

The idea is to extend training time and spend two, three hours on the place, without the players rushing home for lunch in-between and having to warm up twice a day.

“Effectively, we’ll have more training minutes per day”, is Veh’s reason to change the schedule.

Now, I don’t know if the new plan was used last week already, but either way, the team was, as expected, successful in the DFB Cup against Hansa Lüneburg. The VfB, playing without the injured Bastürk, Boulahrouz and Cacau, and Jan Simak, who had been red-carded in the last cup match with Carl Zeiss Jena and been banned for one match, started into the match eagerly, making it clear that losing was not an option. The quick 1:0 (Lanig, in minute 11) and the 2:0 by Hilbert, scored in the 26th minute, pointed in the right direction. However, in the first half it seemed as if Mario Gomez was in just the same shape as during the Euro: he missed a few ‘100 percent’ chances, one of which was the carbon copy of the missed chance against Austria that started the whole misery.

The second half-time started just like the first had ended, with a missed chance by Gomez (Armin Veh’s comment later: “Well, I have to admit it looked a little funny at some moments”). Every failed move was commented by the audience with cheering and ironic applause, but with two goals (58th and 79th minute) he showed that “nobody needs to worry about me”, as he said after the match. He may not be fully back to the shape of the footballer of the year 2007, but he’s on the way there.

The 5:0 (final result) then came as an own goal by Berger.

Next on the plan is the UEFA Cup qualification match against ETO Györ on Thursday. After the first Bundesliga match on Sunday, the players who have been called up for the national team squad are going to leave for the weekend.

Together with Thomas Hitzlsperger and Mario Gomez, Serdar Tasci is going to travel to Nuremberg. It’s not the first time he’s been called up, but until now he was injured every time he should have put on the DFB jersey. But now, he’s in great shape, even started training a whole week before his colleagues and is looking forward to the experience.

One player who is not going to join the team is Jens Lehmann, who now officially retired from the national team. I’m not going to get too detailed here, since Angela already wrote a piece about his decision at the world cup blog.

On a completely different note, what had been expected for months now finally happened, and Christian Gentner’s loan contract with the VfL Wolfsburg has been dissolved and he’s going to stay with the Wolves until 2010. I’ve never been happy with him leaving in the first place, but even I am forced to admit that for his career, it was the best decision, and that Stuttgart has enough midfielders to get along without him (if we aren’t struck by a flood of injuries, like last season, that is).

So, what happened in these three weeks?

- transfers, part one: As expected, Antonio da Silva transferred to the KSC, while Alexander Farnerud went to Denmark and will play for Brondby IF in the future. Good luck to both of them.

- watching the Euro from a VfB fan point of view was disappointing, as most of the Stuttgart-based players failed to impress: Ludovic Magnin took over the captain’s armband for Switzerland after the injury of Alex Frei but wasn’t able to lead the team to the knock out stages, Ciprian Marica spent three matches on the bench and Fernando Meira captained Portugal to their first lost match in the tournament, caused a penalty and got yellow-carded, all in the first match he played from the beginning. But of course when it comes to the disappointment of the tournament, Mario Gomez takes the cake. I’ll spare you further comments on his performance since it’s been discussed everywhere, for example the euro section at the world cup blog.

- and then there was Thomas Hitzlsperger, who for once didn’t disappoint at all, but played a very good match against Portugal and an only slightly less good one against Turkey. From one moment to the other he was discussed as the new leader personality and captain in Stuttgart, an idea that found a lot of appreciation, though not from Fernando Meira. But I’ll get to that in a second.

- transfers, part two: in a “let’s hope this is the best for all sides”-move Raphael Schäfer returned to his former club Nürnberg, where he may have to play in the second league, but at least he can be sure that the fans are going to support him. Nürnberg is glad to have him back, Stuttgart is glad to be rid of him.

- transfers, part three: In the last post before my break I wrote about Stuttgart and the relation to their young players, who often come from the own youth, and that a decision was made to continue supporting them and emphasise this strength of the club. Letting Andreas Beck go to Hoffenheim might seem contradictory at first sight, but leaving might have been the right step for him since it was obvious that Veh would always prefer Osorio in that position. This leaves us with only one rightback, as Hilbert is still a midfielder and Pischorn actually belongs to the inner defence. So far there is no replacement in sight.

- the Gomez-to-Bayern rumours never quite stopped and were heated by a not so thought-out comment by Stuttgart’s chairman Dieter Hundt, who was sitting in the audience of a football comedy show when the host asked him what he thought of a transfer and jokingly answered that considering his current performance [at the Euro], any club would have to pay a three-digit million Euro sum for Gomez.

The striker reacted understandably affronted about Hundt “profiling himself on my expense” (quote from Mario’s website) and demanded an excuse. Shortly after the two of them met and discussed the problem, and when Horst Heldt had a conversation with Bayern officials and made clear that they would not let Gomez go in the summer break, and Bayern announced in their first press conference of the new season that they were not interested any longer, one might have though that the issue was cleared.

However, just yesterday Karl-Heinz Rummenigge threw in the very unnecessary comment that they could have Gomez any time they wanted to thanks to a release-clause in the contract. He wishes.
“The FC Bayern can’t come and take away our players whenever they want to” is Heldt’s only comment. He adds, “I’m absolutely sick of this discussion.” I’ve got a hunch that he isn’t the only one who thinks that way.

- meanwhile the playing schedules for next season were released: Stuttgart starts into the new season in Mönchengladbach, followed by a home match against Bayer Leverkusen. Hannover 96 will come to visit Stuttgart the next week, then the VfB will travel to Hoffenheim for derby number one. Derby number two follows on the fifth matchday in a home match against the KSC.

- the training has been going surprisingly well: Marco Pischorn is currently recovering from a broken calf-bone, but apart from that there haven’t been any injuries worth mentioning so far. But the training camp has also brought a surprise: Fallen-from-grace forward Danijel Ljuboja, who returned from his loan in Wolfsburg, is back training with the first team. Apparently he really regrets the contract stunt he pulled two years ago and is hoping for a new start.

- However, a so far successful training camp, the lack of injuries and Manuel Fischer deciding he wouldn’t participate in the under-nineteen European championship and support his club in the UI-Cup instead didn’t prevent the team from losing the first match against Saturn Ramenskoje with 0:1.

- transfers, part four: For a while it seemed as if he had lost his voice, as suddenly Fernando Meira refused to comment on anything. His agent Roger Wittmann however used every opportunity to comment on the recent events, especially when it became known that Armin Veh indeed wasn’t planning with Meira as captain for the next season.
In the end, Meira asked to be released from his contract and transferred to Galatasaray Istanbul. This is only the short version; I’ll try to be a little more detailed in a new post.

- transfers, part five: A warm welcome to Khalid Boulahrouz! The full back transferred from FC Chelsea to Stuttgart and signed a contract for four years. He’s looking forward to the new challenge. Here’s to hoping that his playing style, which he describes as “positively aggressive” is going to fit to the rest of the team and be a good influence on the back four, which has been a little too sleepy for some parts of the last season.

- some more transfer rumours, just for kicks: Despite what has been said before, this time things point to a transfer of Christian Gentner to the VfL Wolfsburg. The player, who is on a loan deal there, feels very comfortable within the team and sees his future with the Wolves rather than in Stuttgart.
Recently Armin Veh said that the VfB isn’t looking for new players any more, though there still are some rumours around Kevin-Prince Boateng. The problem is that Stuttgart wants a loan deal, while Tottenham is looking to sell the midfielder.

Hertha’s Arne Friedrich was rumoured to come for a while, but after the signing of Boulahrouz it seems unlikely that the club will look for another fullback, especially since with Serdar Tasci and Marco Pischorn (once he recovers) two young players are waiting for another chance to prove themselves.

Pavel Pardo had an offer from his former club CF America from Mexico City and said “if the decision was only my own, I would leave.” But the club made clear that they would not let him go. Since he sees Stuttgart as his second home, staying does not bother him all that much, though. Maybe it is a hint to the club to make a step towards a contract extension, since it was also the security to play three more years that interested the Mexican, and his contract in Stuttgart only runs until 2009.

- Today the VfB team and training staff left the training camp at the Öschberghof in Going. After a week of rain, the sun was shining for the last training session, at least. But despite the weather the team is optimistic and looking forward to the next season. The second leg UI-Cup match against Ramenskoje is sceduled for Sunday, here’s to hoping the team has improved their fitness since last week and will eventually find their way to the UEFA Cup.

Mario Gomez is, indeed very busy with the Euro: So busy he didn’t want to comment on the latest shocking rumour which claimed that he had signed a pre-contract with the FC Bayern. Actually the story wasn’t much more than a sidenote to the even bigger shock of Arsenal London’s Aleks Hleb joining the Bavarians. Unlike Gomez, who doesn’t answer the questions about this with more than a smile, Hleb openly said that there’s no truth at all about the stories and Uli Ferber, who manages both players, also stated that he didn’t know anything about negotiations with the German champion in both cases.

Gomez’ focus on the Euro goes so far that he now started wearing a hair band to keep his hair from falling into his face and disturbing his concentration. This message was so big it’s been addressed in several interviews, and so I felt obliged to give it a mention as well.

However he still isn’t focused enough to score his first goal at an international tournament. Apart from a missed chance and taking part in the set-up for the 1:0 against Poland, he’s been atypically invisible. Though I should probably be glad that he doesn’t catch too much attention from bigger clubs, it’s not something I like to see.

Stuttgart’s other players at the Euro haven’t left too much of an imprint, either (except for one). While Ciprian Marica is back in training after a light head injury and still waiting for his first match for Romania, both Fernando Meira and Thomas Hitzlsperger have been put on late during the match (Meira in both matches for Portugal, Hitzlsperger once in Germany’s first match against Poland) without changing much.

The one player who has shown the most effort is sadly the one who will definitely not stay for the quarterfinals: Ludovic Magnin took over the captain’s armband after the injury of Alexander Frei, but despite all efforts Switzerland didn’t make it to the next round.

Too bad, I don’t know any other European team whose captain manages to sing along to their national anthem fervently and wink at the camera at the same time. Though the other four Euro participants will be relieved now, since they had already been in fear of their Swiss defender’s merciless mocking, should their team go out before Switzerland.

Though not busy with the Euro, Stuttgart’s management is also very busy. After dozens of rumours about players leaving (Beck, Fischer, da Silva) or not returning from a loan deal (Gentner) and none of the transfers from last season convincing completely, the club’s officials have decided to return to the concept that proved to be successful before: Supporting the own youth.

In names, that means: After there already had been some disagreement about the transfer fee, now the decision is made to not let Andreas Beck go to Hoffenheim. Christian Gentner will most probably return at the end of next season – though Felix Magath seems to be disappointed about the negotiations failing and there’s even a chance Gentner might come back from Wolfsburg this summer already. Gentner himself says he hasn’t made a definite decision so far and didn’t want to exclude anything.

Negotiations are also going on with Manuel Fischer and Sami Khedira, the aim is to keep them in Stuttgart on a long-term basis.
Two of the young players who were introduced to the first team during last season have already left, though: Peter Perchtold, former captain of the VfB II, will play for Bundesliga relegates FC Nürnberg next season, midfielder Julian Schuster has moved to SC Freiburg. Good luck there!

Two players are still expected to leave: The Karlsruher SC made another offer for Antonio da Silva, the player doesn’t seem to have much of a future in Stuttgart and if the transfer fee is satisfying, he’ll go. There still aren’t any offers for Alexander Farnerud, though I heard the name Bröndby Kopenhagen mentioned somewhere.

Concerning Raphael Schäfer, the club is trying to “find a solution together. He’s got a contract with us and there is no reason to exclude him,” to quote manager Horst Heldt. Whatever that means.

And news there are, indeed: Former Arsenal London and German National Team goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is going to play for the VfB Stuttgart next season. Both team manager Heldt and coach Veh are very happy with the transfer, Lehmann is looking forward to the next season and wants to contribute his part to a successful year.

As far as I know, his contract will run for one year.

What still isn’t clear is the future of his predecessor. Raphael Schäfer is free (and expected) to leave. Problem is, from Stuttgart’s side, the contract, which still lasts until 2011. From Schäfer’s side the problem is that he has the choice between sitting on Stuttgart’s tribune until his contract expires and…
Yes, that is the problem, there doesn’t seem to be an alternative now. No Bundesliga club is looking for a goalkeeper (at least not one who will actually play) and the return to the 1. FC Nürnberg (and the step into the second league) is just as inacceptable as the step abroad, since even keepers at their best shape have taken some disadvantages from going to another country (without mentioning any names, Timo Hildebrand).

Or, to quote Schäfer’s lawyer and advisor: “He can’t just quit his job. What else should he do now? Sell sausages in the stands?”

The definite signings: With Jan Šimak (Carl Zeiss Jena) and Martin Lanig (SpVgg Greuther Fürth), the VfB has signed two midfielders. Simak is supposed to strengthen the lacking “creative” department, while Lanig probably is one who will start in the second team and be saved as an emergency solution. Šimak is currently working on the recovery from a groin operation in Stuttgart.

Loan deals: Due to disappointing performances, Sergiu Radu is probably going to return to Wolfsburg, Ewerthon will either stay at Espanyol Barcelona or return right to Saragossa. Both turned out to not be the solution we’ve been searching for in the attack.

David Pisot is currently on a loan deal at SC Paderborn and I suppose he’s going to return from there this summer, especially since inner defenders are something the club is missing.

As for Christian Gentner, loaned to Wolfsburg until 2009, apparently he wants to stay there. Magath and Heldt already discussed the options and it seems like Gentner will be sold to the VfL. A decision that probably is the best for him since he developed to a leading player there, but which disappoints me nevertheless, because I really would have loved to see him play at Stuttgart again. And why would Stuttgart first refuse to add a buying option to the contract and then decide to let him go a year later?

The goalkeeper situation: As I already wrote, Raphael Schäfer’s time in Stuttgart seems to be over. According to rumours, Horst Heldt already contacted Jens Lehmann, who may or may not be looking for a club to go to after the Euro 08.

Defence: On the right wing, Andi Beck wasn’t quite satisfied with always being second choice to Osorio, but as of lately there haven’t been any news, so I guess he’ll stay.
Edit: Okay, seems I was wrong about that and a) Andi is still very unhappy with his situation and
b) his agent is going to meet Heldt for a conversation about the possibilities…
The VfB is still looking for another inner defender after Gledson went back to Rostock this winter. This is important especially because Fernando Meira seemed extremely flattered by the offer from Juventus Turin last summer and somehow this story doesn’t quite seem to be over yet. With David Pisot and Marco Pischorn, Stuttgart have two alternatives from the own youth, but it is apparent that this doesn’t quite seem to satisfy the manager (though if they get another inner defender, Pischorn should look for a loan deal to get some practice).

Midfield: With two new midfielders signed, it’s getting a little crowded there. My guess is that Alexander Farnerud, who never quite had his breakthrough, is going to leave.
With Šimak, Bastürk and da Silva we now have three creative midfielders, or at least players who like to be called that. It’s quite possible that da Silva might have to go, too, even though his last performances weren’t really bad. However, since Bastürk came, he seems to have fallen from the coach’s favour, for what reason I can’t imagine.

I’m also having my doubts about Šimak. Not so much about his abilities on the pitch, but his personality, which has caused him trouble before. But he says he changed and is really glad about his second chance in the Bundesliga. Here’s to hoping he uses it.

Attack: The problem isn’t so much the attack in the starting line up, which worked out even in this season, the problem is to find someone to take the place of Gomez or Cacau in case of an injury. With Radu leaving, hopes are on Ciprian Marica, who didn’t live up to the expectations so far. But other players also needed a year to get used to their new environment, so I hope he’ll perform better next year.

Very uncertain rumours circle around the names Voronin and Pantelic (mostly speculations from the newspapers’ sides, nothing that should scare Abby), and then there’s Ivan Klasnic, who is leaving Bremen this summer, and who Horst Heldt called “interesting,” whatever that means.

As for Mario Gomez, here’s what he said last week: “It’s widely known that I feel very well here in Stuttgart and that I have a contract that still lasts a while, and right now I’m not contemplating to leave at all.”

Sadly for a while now, things won’t be about Gomez since he’s brought a slight injury from Hanover. He’ll be out for roughly two weeks with a torn muscle fibre in his thigh and probably won’t play in the very important matches against Hamburg and in Leverkusen.

This means, apart from the rest of the team having to remember how to score, that the scouts from roughly half a dozen clubs around Europe will have the time to take a rest now and spend their time at some other place than the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion (maybe that’s why there were so many visitors there lately despite the lousy weather?).

Gomez, the life-insurance of the VfB. Gomez, the extraterrestrial. Gomez, the mysterious being, as he was named by the Süddeutsche Zeitung recently. He’ unbelievably talented, he’s scoring goals with apparently every part of his body and in every situation, he is very modest and down to earth and on top of that, quite good looking (okay, I will stop talking about the looks of players now. I should at least try to appear like a serious fan here).

Almost every big club in Europe seems to want him. It started last summer with Juventus Turin, he didn’t want to leave then and our manager complained about the lack of morals there. Yes, we may be among the bigger clubs of the Bundesliga, but we’re a little naïve sometimes, expecting football to have morals.
At the moment, the rumour-list includes but is by far not limited to AC Milan, AS Roma and Real Madrid. His favourite in the Spanish league, Barcelona, hasn’t asked yet as far as I know, and of course there’s the faint hope that he’ll wait until they send an offer.

Fact is that he’s extended his contract to 2012 last year and has never talked about wanting to leave soon, as in right after the Euro, and I’d really appreciate everyone to take note of that before they consider him gone already. Actually he’s not talking about it at all and I’m not quite sure whether that’s a good or a bad sign.

Of course he feels very flattered by the praise but keeps repeating himself: He can’t promise anything since football is changing so quickly, but at the moment he’s not thinking about anything but playing successful football with his club and getting called up for the Euro (while he’s actually got a secure starting place and the rest of Germany is only discussing whether Klose or Kuranyi should play next to him).

Veh and Heldt have both mentioned several times that there’s an unofficial deal that he’ll stay at least another season, while he never seems to have heard of that either. The newspapers, with the evil tabloid with the four letters leading the way argue that if he’ll play as good in the national team as he did recently, even another year at Stuttgart will be illusive. What they forget is that if a player doesn’t want to leave and the club doesn’t want to sell him, chances are quite high that nothing is going to happen. So, what does he want? I guess the only people who know are Mario himself, his advisor and maybe his parents, but that’s about it.

As a fan of the team, of course I’m hoping. By now everyone has realised that Mario Gomez won’t end his career in Stuttgart, but that can mean anything. He’s still very young, has been playing constantly for not even two years, interrupted by three rather long-ish injuries.

I hope he’ll stay another year so maybe Marica will remember how to score goals not only in his national team or they can find another striker. Secretly I wish for two years since that would allow Manuel Fischer some development time and also because I’d really love to see him play together with Christian Gentner again, who will return from his loan deal at the VfL Wolfsburg in 2009. They’ve been a great team on the pitch before and now that both are on the edge of being the best footballers they could possibly become, it’s something I wouldn’t want to miss.

As a fan of Mario himself, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t one, my wishes are similar but not quite 100% the same. Of course I still want him to stay for at least one year, for his own sake. If he’s played more than three matches in an international competition, that would surely increase his position at the club he’d join then (of course for this sentence to be proven true, we’d have to qualify for an international competition this season).
He says he wants to go abroad. That’s good, because it doesn’t have such a high grudge-potential as going to a Bundesliga rival (think Kevin Kuranyi, for example, whose name you still find on Stuttgart jerseys, but in strikethrough, covered with black tape or with “traitor” written above it).
And of course I want him to go somewhere that’s good for him. One reason for his many goals is the rest of the team, both in Stuttgart as in the National Team, working with him and setting up the goals for him. Sure, sometimes he just needs to hold his foot near a badly executed cross to score, but what if nobody is willing to set up the goals for him? What if the player next to him is an even bigger star, one who’d rather make this goal himself?

Will he end up at a club that wants him because he fits into their system (Stuttgart buys all their players for this reason but then, like I said, we’re a little naïve) or will he be somewhere because their manager rather wanted to see him on their bench than on the pitch playing for their rivals? I really love the way he plays, love the way he smiles when he’s scored and I don’t want him to lose that smile. I don’t want him to end up somewhere he’d only be a trophy.
So, whenever he leaves, to whoever will have the honour to greet him as their new striker, take care of him.
He’s very valuable and made for great tasks.