The New Mario Gomez

      If you'd have said last May at the end of the Budensliga season that Mario Gomez would be the league's top scorer by February many would have looked at you as if you were delusion and would have even questioned whether he would be playing for Bayern next season. This, however, is exactly the situation that Mario Gomez finds himself in having netted 18 goals for Bayern so far this season.
     Joining Bayern for a fee of about 35million Euros at the beginning of the 09-10 season from Vfb Stuttgart, where he scored 63 goals in 121 appearances, Bayern manager Louis van Gaal and every German football follower expected the transition to the 22 time champions to be very smooth as he was not moving country or having to adapt to a new culture. As you can most probably gather this was not the case. In a season where Bayern Munich achieved so much Mario Gomez achieved so little scoring only 10 goals in comparison to the 24 scored the season before. Despite being in a team that is so attackingly gifted, with the likes of Arjen Robben, Frank Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger supplying passes of a consistently high standard, Gomez looked like a shadow of his former self as he frequently failed to make an impact. 
      With this poor form there was rumors of a potential escape to England during the summer with Liverpool showing interest in the 25 year old. Gomez, however, decided to stay at die Bayern to try and prove that he was worth the substantial fee they paid for him. Whether it be a miracle or just that Gomez has finally settled in Munich, this season Mario Gomez seems like a completely different player. In the absence of Robben and Ribery at the beginning of the season, Gomez has shined and single handedly dragged Bayern up the league after having a desperately poor season. I, personally, am really glad to see that Mario's fortunes have changed and hope that it long continues.