Lukas Podolski
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Lukas Podolski (born Łukasz Podolski, on June 4, 1985 in Gliwice (German name: Gleiwitz), Poland), nicknamed Poldi, is a German football player of Polish origin. He plays for FC Cologne in the position of a striker. He often sneaks back into the midfield to get the ball, then outsprinting his opponents and scoring with a remarkably cold-blooded finishing touch. As of 2005, he is seen as one of the most promising German players.
Player Profile
It was at FC Cologne where Podolski's talents were first noticed. In 2003, at the age of 18, Podolski was still part of the club's youth side. At this time the club found itself in dire straits battling to avoid relegation from the Bundesliga. First team boss Marcel Koller, working on a shoestring budget, decided to give the young striker a chance to show his worth to the team. Podolski was invited to train with the senior players and made his top flight debut shortly afterwards on January 22, 2003. Even though Cologne failed to avoid the drop Podolski had shown what he could do, scoring 10 goals in his first 19 senior appearances. This was the best tally by an 18 year old in the history of the Bundesliga.
Podolski continued to stay with the club despite relegation and was instrumental in ensuring a quick return to the top flight, scoring 24 goals in the process. Even before the 2004/05 season began he had become the first second-division player since 1975 to break into the national team, celebrating his debut for Rudi Voller's Germany on 6 June, 2004 in Kaiserslautern against Hungary with a late substitute appearance.
He played for Germany at Template:Ec2, where he was the squad's youngest player. He also attended the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2005 and scored 3 goals there.
Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann holds him in high regard as he is lethal with the head as well as the feet and also still very young. Because of this, clubs such as Bayern München, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen and even Real Madrid have manifested their interest in Podolski, though he has a contract with FC Köln until 2007 kicker.de (German). Podolski's favourite club after FC Cologne however, happens to be FC Barcelona.
Club career stats
| Club | Season | Bundesliga | DFB Cup | European Competition | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| 1. FC Köln | 2005-06 | 26 | 8 | - | - | ||||
| 2004-05 | 30 | 24 | - | - | |||||
| 2003-04 | 19 | 10 | - | - | |||||
| Total | 75 | 42 | - | - | |||||
| Career Totals | 71 | 41 | |||||||