Lukas Podolski returns to his old place of work. Starting next season, the 36-year-old ex-national player will be back on the field for his childhood club Gornik Zabrze.
Now it is certain: Ex-national player Lukas Podolski changes to the Polish first division club Gornik Zabrze. In a video of the club, in which Podolski wears a jersey with the number ten, it said on Tuesday: “The time has come. Welcome home.”
Podolski and Zabrze: “The legend continues”
The 2014 world champion tweeted under the linked video: “Thank you and see you later.” In the film, the striker addressed the fans with the slogan: “We’re going forward!” That is the battle cry of the Gornik supporters. The change had already begun on Monday when the club announced in a clip “The legend countinues …” At Podolski it was said: “The saga continues”.
Lukas Podolski will not officially sign the contract with his new club until Thursday, but you can already buy his jersey with the number ten in the fan shop. The obligation of the German ex-national player should make his new employer Gornik Zabrze ring the box. Podolski is returning to his roots and playing for the Polish first division club for a year.
Zabrze is “my club in Poland”
Next Thursday, the Polish-born Podolski will sign the one-year contract in the stadium in Zabrze and be welcomed by fans of the club, as club spokesman Konrad Kolakowski told the German press agency.
Podolski was born in Gliwice, a neighboring town of Zabrze. “For me, for example, it is still an option that I play again in Poland at the end of my career at Gornik Zabrze,” my club “in Poland,” Podolski said in a 2016 DFB interview.
Zabrze Podolski wanted to sign in 2019, but at that time the attacker decided in favor of Turkey. According to media reports, Podolski is said to have had offers from Mexico, Brazil, Turkey and Qatar. “For me, it’s about playing another year or two, having fun and living in a good city,” Podolski recently told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”.
The world champion is finally back
“For several seasons, every summer, the topic of the popular Poldis has come back like a boomerang. Everyone, both the fans of the club from Zabrze, but also the supporters of other clubs, waited for his promise to be fulfilled. After all, it doesn’t come every day World champion over the Ekstraklasa lawn “, wrote the newspaper” Przeglad Sportowy “on Tuesday about the transfer.
Podolski had last played for one season for Antalyaspor in Turkey and had been without a club since July 1 after his contract expired. Zabrze is the eighth station of his professional career for the 130-time national player. Gornik had taken tenth place in the Polish championship last season.
Podolski left the club at the age of two
Podolski has never played for his new club, because at the age of two he left Poland with his family for Germany, where he made his Bundesliga debut in 2003 with his long-term club 1. FC Köln. Podolski won the championship and DFB Cup double with FC Bayern Munich in 2008, and he also won titles with FC Arsenal (England), Galatasaray Istanbul (Turkey) and Vissel Kobe (Japan).
The businessman Podolski had last surprised with his engagement as the new juror of the RTL show “Das Supertalent”. He signed a contract for several years and will perform from the next season.
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