The Renaissance of Bayern Munich's Mario Gomez (Part 1)
Mario Gomez moved from VFB Stuttgart to Bayern Munich for a Bundesliga record fee of €35 million last year. In his final season at Stuttgart, the German international scored 35 goals and was wanted by top European clubs but he opted for his boyhood club,
Bayern Munich.
A lot was expected from the striker as he had already proved to be a lethal striker in Bundesliga but unluckily, Gomez seemed to have lost his way after the big-money move and struggled to back his expensive price tag with goals and ended last season with
only 14 goals.
The striker was considered more of an expensive ornament at the Allianz Arena in a squad that already had a great attacking force. Mario Gomez struggled throughout last season but his teammates were having one of their best seasons so far as Munich won the
Bundesliga, Pokal Cup and even reached the final of the Champions League. Ivica Olic, whom Bayern Munich signed for a free transfer, was consistently preferred to the 35 million Gomez and proved to be a revelation in the Champions League.
Even the German national team seemed to have forgotten all about Gomez and en route to the semi-final of this year’s World Cup in South Africa, the striker was overlooked.
The striker, who averaged a goal every other game, was suppose to be in the thick of things for both Bayern Munich and Germany but instead, he proved to be a frustrated spectator and benchwarmer.
Last season, Bayern Munich preferred using Thomas Mueller and Ivica Olic as their strike force and even Miroslav Klose was preferred over Gomez.
In South Africa, Mueller and Klose were regular starting fixtures for Joachim Low’s Germany along with Lucas Podolski and even when Klose was suspended for a game, Cacau was given the nod instead of Mario Gomez.
In a matter of 12 months, Gomez had gone from a regular starter to the most expensive substitute in Europe. The 14 goals that Gomez scored in his debut season for Bayern Munich were more of a scant consolation for the man who scored 63 goals in his last
2 seasons at Stuttgart.
Mario Gomez was so fed up of things in Germany at one point that he put in a transfer request to move to Liverpool and his adviser Uli Ferber advocated the striker’s situation by saying that if a club like Liverpool makes inquiries about someone, it’s hard
to resist and that Gomez only wanted to play football regularly.
Unsurprisingly, Bayern Munich were reluctant to let go of the striker for whom they paid such a hefty amount but Gomez’s frustration was natural and understandable as well.
This season also, the story was no different. 4 games had already been played and Gomez yet again failed to start a match. The striker was so frustrated by the lack of game time that he was even ready to turn his back on Champions League in order to stop
his spell on the sidelines.
Gomez remained history’s most expensive substitute until October when he was after long last, given his first start of the season as Bayern Munich played against in-form Borussia Dortmund. Gomez played the full 90 minutes of the match and failed to score
as Bayern Munich lost the match 2-0.
Louis Van Gaal, despite such a big loss, took his chances with the out of sorts’ striker and he was eventually rewarded for his faith when Gomez scored a hat trick in the next game as Bayern defeated Hannover 96 3-0.
Miroslav Klose and Ivica Olic were consigned to the bench as Gomez finally recaptured his goal scoring touch that had tempted Bayern Munich to splash €35 million for the striker’s services. Now was the time for Gomez to finally reward his manager’s patience.
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