Holger Badstuber joins Schalke 04 on loan

Holger Badstuber is leaving Bayern Munich for the final six months of the 2016/2017 season. The 27-year-old German centerback will join fellow Bundesliga side Schalke 04 on loan to gain some much required match practice after missing most of the past four seasons due to a string of injuries.

"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.” Karl Heinz Rumenigge, press release

Badstuber will undergo a physical examination in the next few days, but a large question remains in whether or not he signed the rumored extension with Bayern before leaving. If not, this winter’s practice in Doha may have been his last hurrah with Die Roten.

Badstuber joins a Schalke 04 side battling for any European spot, currently sitting in 11th and 7 points back from 7th place FC Köln. While Schalke plods around with a potent defense, it has been their lack of offense which has hurt them this season. Hopefully adding one the best all around centerbacks in the game can give them some deep lying impetus going forward and Badstuber can show what he still can recover from his years of lost time.

UPDATE: SportBILD reports that Holger Badstuber and Bayern Munich have reached a verbal agreement to sign a contract extension in the coming days.