LASK hands over U21 team goalkeeper to league rival

Nikolas Polster is moving to Wolfsberg to join former LASK coach Dietmar Kühbauer: The 22-year-old signed a three-year contract with the Bundesliga rival. His contract with LASK would have run until summer 2026, and the clubs have not disclosed the transfer fee.

Four years ago, Polster came to Linz from Rapid on a free transfer. He only played in three games for the professional Bundesliga team as a substitute goalkeeper, gaining match practice with the amateurs and in the last two seasons as a cooperation player in the 2nd league with Vorwärts Steyr and Horn. He has played for the national team since the U15s, a total of 15 times, most recently under Werner Gregoritsch in the U21 team.

Competitor in-house

The competitor came from within the club: Lukas Jungwirth also made it into the U21 team via the LASK Amateure OÖ. He will also play in the 2nd league next season – as a cooperation player with Admira. The difference to a normal loan: LASK can recall Jungwirth to Linz at any time if they are in need.

A loan on a cooperative basis was no longer an option for Polster because of his age. Since the start of the preparations, he has been training with LASK after his return from Horn and has also been in goal for test matches. It soon became clear that he would not stay. Number one Tobias Lawal is 24 years old, Jörg Siebenhandl is the experienced number two behind him, and not only the athletes think highly of Jungwirth – there was little chance for Polster to play in the long term and little chance for LASK to optimally promote the replacements.

Chance to get the first place

In Wolfsberg, coach Kühbauer knows Polster’s strengths from their time together at LASK. The competition for the number one jersey is Lukas Gütlbauer: The former Ried player snatched it away from Hernik Bonmann towards the end of last season, who moved to Rasgrad in Bulgaria at the end of the season. The 23-year-old has put in some very strong performances in the pre-season so far.

The preparation of LASK

• Wednesday, 19 June, 11 a.m. | Training field Raiffeisen-Arena: start of training
• Thursday, June 20: Performance tests
• Friday, June 28, 7 p.m.: Oedt – LASK 1:7 (1:1)
  Goals: Karatas (31’/penalty); Copado (26′), Flecker (52′), Ljubicic (54′), Smolcic (68′), Taoui (83′, 87′), Pintor (90′)
  1st half: Siebenhandl; Stojkovic, Ziereis, Peric, Mohammad; Horvath, Jovicic; Usor, Zulj, Copado; Kone
  2nd half: Polster; Lebersorger, Wimhofer, Smolcic, Bello; Bogarde, Berisha; Pintor, Taoui, Flecker; Ljubicic (80. Wanker)
  
• Tuesday, July 2nd, 5pm | Pasching: LASK – CFR Cluj (Rome) 1:1 (0:1)
  Goals: Safin (84.), Ilie (41.)
  1st half: Lawal; Bogarde, Stojkovic, Smolcic, Lebersorger; Horvath, Jovicic; Usor, Zulj, Flecker, Ljubicic
  2nd half: Polster, Bogarde (63. Wimhofer), Stojkovic (63. Ziereis), Smolcic (63. Pursall), Lebersorger (63. Peker); Horvath (63. Safin), Berisha; Usor (63. Pintor), Taoui, Flecker (63. Copado); Kone
• Friday, July 5, 4 p.m. | Pasching: LASK – Dynamo Budweis (Czech) 2:2 (2:1)
  Goals: Zulj (9th), Flecker (30th); Cermak (12th), Sigut (57th)
  LASK: Lawal (59. Polster); Lebersorger (46. Bogarde), Wimhofer (59. Stojkovic), Ziereis (59. Pursall), Smolcic (46. Peric), Flecker (46. Peker/63. Wanker); Jovicic (59. Usor), Zulj (59. Copado), Berisha (59. Safin); Ljubicic (59. Kone), Taoui (46. Pintor)
• Thursday, July 11, 7.30 p.m.: | Raiffeisen-Arena: LASK – Galatasaray Istanbul (Door)
• Saturday, July 20, 3 p.m. | Raiffeisen Arena: LASK – St. Pölten

First competitive matches:

• Friday, July 26, 6 p.m. | ÖFB Cup, 1st round, Ried, Klaus-Roitinger-Stadion: Belts – LASK
• Saturday, August 3, 5 p.m.: Bundesliga, 1st round, Profertil Arena: Hartberg – LASK

Previous transfers

• Access: Maximilian Entrup (Hartberg), Jerome Boateng (D, Salernitana), Hrvoje Smolcic (Cro, Frankfurt, loan), Melayro Bogarde (Ned, Hoffenheim II), Luca Wimhofer (Horn, after loan), Moussa Kone (Sen, Streda, after loan)
• Departures: Elias Havel (Hartberg, loan), Sanoussy Ba (D, Leipzig, after loan, to Braunschweig), Lukas Jungwirth (Admira, loan), Nikolas Polster (Wolfsberg, after loan to Horn), Filip Twardzik (Cze, Trnava), Felix Luckeneder, Michorl, Wiesinger, Letard (Fra)