You write down what I think. I don’t want him to become the plaything of club officials and even though I myself do believe that playing good football is the most important, I’m being small and naive myself and I do have an idea of things being different in the bigger leagues. And like you said, I don’t want him to end up “bitter, disappointed, and losing his form.” So, surely one or two more years would certainly serve him well, especially if we play international (a thought that I’m just not willing to give up), but is it going to be enough?
How can you prepare a great player from a small, naive club for the evil world out there without throwing him right into the cold water, with all the sharks and other evil things just waiting for him?

(I know I sound overly protective, but I guess that’s what it comes down to: Our little Mario is growing up, maybe growing too big for us, and we – as in: the club and its fans – can’t do much but watch as he prepares to step out into the wide world and much like worried parents, we can try to give him a few things to take with him, but we’ll never know if he’s going to use them wisely)

‘Of course there’s a point to the Barca – Real rivalry, but I’ve heard he’s mostly a Barcelona supporter because the rest of the family favours Madrid, so there might be a lot of drama potential there ’
Yeah. If that is how he came to support Barca, that’s interesting, given I remembered reading that his father is a Madrid supporter.

But isn’t that the very definition of the attitude which pervades the Big Clubs — the “Big Evil” attitude, as I am in the habit of calling it? The ‘family’ atmosphere and the support the club gives their players is part and parcel of the attitude, because it encourages in the players the “us vs them” mentality that the Big Evil clubs need. Chelsea has a family atmosphere. So does Manchester United. No one, I think, is going to argue that they are not Big Evil clubs. And despite being a card-carrying (metaphorically speaking) rossonera, I certainly would not be able to get half way through the sentence ‘Milan is not a Big Evil club’ without falling out of my chair with laughter. In fact, I might argue that Milan, with its incredibly insular, protective “family” atmosphere and impressively manipulative PR machine, is the best at being “Big Evil” of all of them.

But being a Big Evil means believing that winning is more important than football. (And, alright, maybe that’s where Milan has fallen down a bit lately.) It means believing — really, truly, believing, at the heart of the club — that the club deserves to win everything, even competitions it’s not playing in, and that it deserves to win regardless of the football it plays. That it deserves to win simply because it is Liverpool, or Barcelona, or whatever. And that any means (up to a certain point, unless you’re Juve) by which it wins are acceptable, because if they can’t win by playing good football, well, they need to win anyway. So they manipulate the media, they bully other clubs, they play down-and-dirty on the transfer market, they do whatever they have to (up to a certain point — unless you’re Juve). And that is an attitude that Bayern, unlike the rest of the Bundesliga, has completely internalized. It is a Big Evil. Now, it’s mitigated slightly by the fact that there is no other Big Evil in the Bundesliga (although Werder’s getting up there), and therefore it cannot reach the heights of Big Evilness that, say, anyone in the EPL or La Liga or Serie A can, but it does not make it “one of the good guys”. Unless you’re comparing them to Real Madrid.

*snorts with laughter* Still one of my favorite footballing moments: Horst Heldt complaining to UEFA about Juve’s ‘lack of morals’. Horst, dearest, Juve would have to know what morals were before they could have a lack of them.

In my opinion, Mario should stay at Stuttgart at least one more year, and probably two, for the sake of his own career and not just the club’s. I’m not sure he’s ready to make the move to one of the larger, more international clubs just yet. Like you said, Stuttgart (like most Bundesliga teams) are a little naive, and that is an attitude internalized by their players, as well. Mario, sweetheart that he is, probably still thinks that the most important thing in football is playing well. That’s a rather disastrous attitude to take to one of the Big Clubs, and likely to end with him bitter, disappointed, and losing his form. I think he should have a few more seasons (with a successful Stuttgart) to grow accustomed to how the world looks outside the relatively innocent (Bayern excepted) German league. And should talk a lot with his friends on the national team who are at Big Clubs (Bayern included).

That said, if he does move, I hope he moves to Milan. Not just because I’m rossonera myself and would love to see him in red and black (and by all the gods of the football pitch, do we ever need a striker who can score), but because on of Milan’s greatest strengths (and greatest weaknesses) is the protective “family” atmosphere of the club. If this atmosphere works correctly, it could provide him with the nurturing environment he needs after leaving the fold of Stuttgart.

Plus, he’d look damn hot in the D&G photoshoots.

That first picture is just beautiful. Wow.

Peter, agreed, it’s one hell of a lot of money. But like Horst Heldt said, that doesn’t mean he’ll leave as soon as another club is willing to pay it. And just a few months ago, the guessed price was at thirty milion and I don’t think it will sink just because he stays another year.

“If I want to be selfish, I want Gomez to stay on till his contract expires.”
Diana, that’s what I’m thinking myself all the time. But he’s still so young and has a lot of time, so there’s hope we’ll have him for some more time. Of course there’s a point to the Barca – Real rivalry, but I’ve heard he’s mostly a Barcelona supporter because the rest of the family favours Madrid, so there might be a lot of drama potential there

Parker, like I said above, I’d guess that his “worth” won’t decrease if he decides to stay for one or two more years. And it’s not said that any club is really going to pay that amount, it was more an estimation from an insurance company if I get that right.

Oh, Abby, I’ve searched the whole net for a bigger version of that picture myself, but sometimes the universe is being very cruel

Harriet, thanks, and yes, you sum it up perfectly. This way everyone would be happy, or not?