Bayern Munich have confirmed that long-serving home-grown defender Holger Badstuber will join Schalke on loan for the remainder of the season after he requested to leave the club he first joined at the age of 13 in search of playing time.
It comes just a few days after the German international, a veteran of the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, was very heavily rumoured to be on the verge of linking up with former Bayern coach Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.Instead, Badstuber will stay in the Bundesliga.
BREAKING: @Badstuber will join @s04_en on a loan deal. More info: https://t.co/igZTNPtpRu
Good luck, Holger! pic.twitter.com/mbwahjQEvT
Handed his first-team debut by Louis van Gaal in 2009, the now 27-year-old has been plagued by injuries over much of the last few seasons. He has only one start to his name in 2016/17, and has managed only 30 Bundesliga appearances since the start of the 2012/13 campaign.
"I'm thankful that FC Bayern have complied with my request. I'd like to get some much-needed match practice at Schalke and I'm looking forward to my time in Gelsenkirchen," the player told FCBayern.com.
Club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge added, "Holger deserves to play. He's been injured so often but now he's physically fit again and would like to play more games. That's why he asked us to allow him to go out on loan to Schalke, and we gladly agreed.
"We hope Holger will get plenty of minutes under his belt in the coming months, and we wish him all the best."
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