Due to DF's request, here's a new VfB thread for the summer talk! Discuss all issues regarding the team in this thread. Everyone feel free to participate if you want
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) hooray for a new thread and a gigantic VfB shield! hopefully VfB will have a good summer transfer period! I'm sure we'll have to wait for that little tournament to end to find out more on who's coming in and who is departing.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) Well the first game for Germany just ended. On a VfB note, neither Hildebrand nor Hitzlsperger featured, but I was very happy to see Philipp Lahm get a goal. It was a cracker and very good for the ex-VfB man! I wish we still had him! Added to that, the ESPN commentators here in the US kept talking about how Lahm went and hugged Ballack after the goal, but what I saw was a hug with Hildebrand. I'm glad to see Philipp hasn't forgotten his friends in Stuttgart.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) His goal was sweet, really all the German goals were class.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) Well the first of a few possible outgoing transfers has occured...Christian Tiffert will be following in the footsteps of Trap and will be playing his football at Red Bull Salzburg next season. (Official VfB site) The rumored transfer fee is about 1.5 mio Euros. (kicker) As far as other possible outward transfers go: Apparently Magnin and Ljuboja were also approached by Salzburg, but both declined offers. (kicker) Elson will be loaned to a "very good Brazilian club" (kicker) Centurion will be loaned or sold (kicker) Cacau's future is still uncertain as no acceptable offers have been made (kicker) Well that's it for now...
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) I don't mind Tiffert leaving too much, he was never very good for us, especially in the second half of this season he was poor. He isn't worth 1.5mil. imo, so that's fine by me. I don't want Magnin to leave until we have a replacement for him(if we decide to get one). Beck culd play in his spot, but i see him more as a right back. Gerber is too old, too slow, and too inefficient to play regularly. As far as the first games of the WC go > Hitzlsperger and Hildebrand both didn't play for Germany(as expected), they didn't play in the second game either. I would have hoped that if Germany qualified after 2 games, Hitzlsperger would maybe get a chance in the third game, but now that Germany must win in order to get first in the group, i doubt this will happen. Ljuboja came on as a sub in Serbia And Montenegro's first game. He did okay, maybe he will be a starter in tomorrow's match. It would be nice if he played well, because then more clubs would be interested in him. Meira played the full game for Portugal. He didn't do great, didn't have to do much anyway, but it made me happy to see a VfB player be a starter for such a big team. Finally, both Magnin and Streller played for Switzerland. Streller was subbed off, Magnin on the other hand played the full match and did pretty well. It was cool that they could play the game in Stuttgart.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) I saw that, not sure why we are though. I looked up the past season statistics for him and he only played 7 times with no goals and 1 yellow card to show for it. He also seems to be 3rd choice at Everton.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) He plays a lot better for Scotland than for Everton...he can still be an useful player.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) Naysmith was injured nearly all of last season. As said he's better for Scotland than he is for Everton. When he plays for Scotland he's a good left back who attacks well and knows his role very well. Edit to add: His only really bad game for Scotland was when V*gts tried to play him in central midfield. Tactical genius he was
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) I know very little about Naysmith to be honest, so i don't know what to think. But this news of us targetting him is kind of old, and there haven't been any updates on the situation in the last week or so, so i'm not thinking about this too seriously at the moment.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) I've heard rumors about a certain Élder Granja from SC International in Brazil. He's 23 years old and supposedly a right full back but could also play in right or defensive midfield. I've never heard of him, so I can't tell you any more. I think we should first get rid of some of our players tough, like Cacau, Ljuboja, Magnin, Zivkovic.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) I'm not sure that i'd like Cacau to leave...he was solid two seasons ago, and is still someone good to have for backup. And if Magnin's replacement would be this Naysmith guy, then i'd rather keep Magnin. I haven't heard about Elder - to be honest i haven't followed transfer news much in general since the WC began.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) According to kicker Gronkjaer leaves Stuugart for 2 Mio € to FC Kopenhagen/DEN. The article also says, that VfB is interested in 2 Iranian midfielders, Javad Nekounam (25) and Anderanik Teymourian (23).
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) It's a real shame but i could see it coming I still remain a fan of his, i understand his reasons for leaving - Veh didn't give him enough credit. He was after all the second best midfielder at VfB going by the kicker ratings... Good luck Jesper, hopefully you will do well back home.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) And next transfer: Andreas Hinkel leaves Stuttgart and joins FC Seville. Surprising for me, but here´s the link. According to transfermarkt.de the transfer fee is about 4 million € and VB plans to put talent Andreas Beck on the right back position.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) This transfer period is supposed to make us stronger?!?! I cannot believe we let two of our biggest talents go. Surely this is not because Hinkel was in bad form this season? I was counting on him to be there for us in better form this next season.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) Hinkel wanted to go to Spain and asked the management to let him go. Since he could leave next year for free, they sold him this year. Beck has been quite good so far, lets hope he can rise even more. As for Grönkjaer, I'm really sorry he left, he was really good. But I saw it coming, as he just doesn't fit into our tactical system. He needs a 4-3-3 formation and we play 4-4-2. So there was pretty much no way around this. The good part about those transfers is not only that we got some transfer fees (it seems like around 6 mill €) but we also safe some saleries. Those two players were rather on the expensive side. I think our line up for next season isn't even that bad. And with the money we got, management should be able to get another top player. As of now, next years line up will probably look something like this: #1---Tomasson---Streller ------------Farnerud ---Hitzelsperger-----Hilbert --------------Meira Magnin---Babbel---Delpierre---Beck ------------Hildebrandt #2-----Gomez----Cacau ------------Gentner -----da Silva------Bierofka ------------Meißner Gerber--Schuon--Zivkovic--Dangelmayer? -------------Heinen So except for our defense, I think we are well equipped. We should replace Magnin and get another alternative for the defense, then it would look pretty good already. I don't actually know a lot about Farnerud but I'm very optimistic about Hilbert. On the left, I'm not too sure about da Silva, personally I'd prefer Hitz on that position.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) Yeah, i agree the sales of the two players were good decisions. Groenkjaer i woulda've kept, but if Veh can't use him properly, then there isn't much we can do but sell him. It's a real shame i think, we could've macde much more out of him. Hinkel was on poor form, he wanted to go, and we got 4 000 000 (way too high ) for him, so fair enough. I think they still want to buy another striker - Sanogo is the main name right now, and in that case, he'd be the starter next season alongside Tomasson. I think anyway Cacau and Gomez are higher on the list than Streller. Marco will have to work really hard to gain a starting spot. Da Silva would maybe be a better choice on the left than Hitzlsperger. If Magnin continues to play poorly next season, i think we could maybe try placing Hitzlsperger on the leftback position - after all, he has been there on the nt. One last problem would be in defense. Babbel is too old and not good enough anymore to be a consistent striker. I think Meira should be kept in the CD spot alongside Delpierre and someone else should play in defensive midfield - Meissner perhaps. Or we would need to buy another central defender. Things are looking good overall - the midfield looks much nicer and the attack should be in a good state by the start of the season - i think we should bring in one more striker and sell one striker for the money(Cacau or Streller i think it should be) besides Ljuboja. Adjustments must still be made in defense, but overall, things are looking ok. And i'm confident Beck can replace Hinkel well and become our next junior success.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) make sure you do that! last year with Hleb you guys didn't work with the money well enough.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) I've read Stuttgart want's Yaya Touré. That would be a great signing. He might turn out to be too expensive though. Then again, it is said that Touré and Olympiakos don't get along too well anymore.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) Newsflash: According to Kicker magazine and a couple of German newspapers, Argentina's Sorrin has been offered to Stuttgart by Villareal. Management is now trying to figure out if they can finance him. Kicker reports that Villareal wants 6 Mio € and Sorrin wants 5 Mio € a year. That sounds WAY too expensive for the VfB. The Stuttgarter Zeitung however writes that he'd cost 5 Mio € transfer fee plus 3 Mio € salery per year. That would still be very expensive but it sounds managable after Hinkel and Gronkjaer left Stuttgart and if we find a club that is willing to buy Magnin who plays the in same position as Sorin. Yet, this would still leave us without a signing in either defensive midfield or central defence which has top priority as we are lacking depth in that area and I doubt that we could finance both, Sorin and Toure...well, time will tell.
Re: The Rebuilding Of VfB Stuttgart - Summer 2006(R) Now that would be a big name - i don't think we could afford him, such a move just seems impossible... but i'd have nothing against it Poor Magnin though, i felt bad for him when Switzerland went out, he really was man of the match in that game i think. Streller sucked though.