Careers of elite footballers are almost nothing to do with emotions and nostalgia. They hardly ever’ listen to their heart’ when choosing the next step of their professional journey. But this tends to change when they reach their mid-thirties and the end of their playing days approaches. Then, they start thinking about where and how they spent their years chasing the ball and which colours they wore. In those days, they long for home.Lukas Podolski has had a glittering career. He tasted success at every level and played for some of the wealthiest clubs in the world. But there was something in the back of his mind all along. There was a promise he’d made to his beloved grandmother – a promise that one day he’ll go back to his birthplace and pull on a shirt of Gornik Zabrze, the club he’s supported since he was a boy.Podolski won the FA Cup with Arsenal (©AFP)Born in a part of Poland that was a part of Germany a century ago, Lukas moved to the far west of Germany with his family when he was just two years old. This effectively made him German, although he never forgot his roots, the Polish language and the club his family was fond of. Even while he was growing up far away from his native land, Lukas Podolski remained a Gornik Zabrze supporter. And today, more than three decades since leaving Poland, Lukas Podolski is a Gornik player.Often crediting his grandmother with his early development, the football ace had always pledged to one day return to play for Zabrze, a club that he has previously bought shares in. In an interview five years ago, Podolski stated that he always wanted to come back.”Gornik are a club that I can really say is ‘mine’. When the time comes to an end my adventure with club football, I want to do it in Zabrze, in the colours of Gornik, the team I have always supported and will always back.”I was once a boy with big dreams of playing football, like so many of us all over the world. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved, and now reaching 700 professional matches… I’m only motivated to keep on playing our beautiful game… pic.twitter.com/z4ZbztMkAl— Lukas-Podolski.com (@Podolski10) August 2, 2021 Despite being offered a string of big-money moves since the expiration of his Antalyaspor contract in Turkey, he finally honoured that promise when he pulled on the team’s shirt this weekend for their opening home match against Lech Poznan in the Polish top tier. Unfortunately, his biggest supporter wasn’t in attendance, having passed away in December 2019.Although his new club lost the match 3-1, Podolski’s second-half arrival as a substitute proved the highlight of the game as the living legend. This player played for Koln, Bayern, Arsenal, Inter and Galatasaray, finally stepped onto the pitch with Gornik’s badge on his chest.🇵🇱 Górnik Zabrze’nin 10 numarası Lukas Podolski. 🔟 pic.twitter.com/n27LX1hbY9— A Spor (@aspor) August 1, 2021 Podolski is not the only high-profile player who returned to Poland after a successful career in Germany this year. Lukasz Piszczek signed for Goczalkowice-Zdroj a month ago.Welcome home, Poldi!
