Lukas Podolski member of sports team FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
In 2006, clubs such as Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, and Real Madrid manifested their interest in Podolski, even though he had a contract with 1. FC Köln through 2007. On 1 June 2006, Podolski announced that a transfer agreement had been reached with Bayern Munich, allowing him to join the Bavarian side for the 2006–07 season. Financial details of the deal were not immediately available, but the transfer fee was speculated to be around €10 million. He made his Bundesliga debut for Bayern on 11 August 2006, coming on as a substitute in the 88th minute of a 2–0 victory against Borussia Dortmund. On 9 September 2006, he came on as a second-half substitute in a DFB-Pokal game versus FC St. Pauli. Only 26 seconds after the second half started, he scored the equaliser, levelling the match at 1–1. On 14 October 2006, with his first Bundesliga goal for Bayern, Podolski helped to secure the club's 4–2 win over Hertha BSC. On 26 October 2006, Podolski suffered a serious injury to his right ankle joint caused by teammate, Mark van Bommel, during a training session. Consequently, Podolski missed more than five match weeks. He returned from this injury and scored against Alemannia Aachen.
After Bayern bought in Italian striker Luca Toni in 2007, Podolski received less playing time due to coach Ottmar Hitzfeld's preference to partner Miroslav Klose and Toni together instead. However, Bayern ended the 2007–08 season by winning a league and cup double, giving Podolski the first major silverware of his career.
Despite former national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann taking charge of Bayern for the 2008–09 season, Podolski again failed to break into the team's regular first choice line-up. After a rather unhappy spell at Bayern, he returned to former club Köln on 1 July 2009.
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