After conquering earth, sea and land, which led to hysteria amongst the Blues fans, Rovers have finally announced the acquisition of former Schalke 04, Hamburg SV and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, Lewis Holtby, following protracted negotiations.
The 29-year old playmaker, who was released from his Hamburg contract at the end of the 2018-19 season, after ‘Die Rothosen’ failed to return to the Bundesliga at the first time of asking, arrives at Ewood Park on a free transfer and a 2-year deal, packed full of top-level experience, having represented the German national team on several occasions.
Despite coming through the ranks at Alemannia Aachen, then competing in Germany’s Championship equivalent, the 2.Bundesliga, Holtby caught the eye with a number of impressive performances for the recently relegated side for a number of seasons, which led to him being named Germany’s best under-19 player in 2009, where he beat the likes of future Germany teammate André Schürrle to the award.
His impressive performances in the second-tier saw admirers from the Bundesliga emerge, with Schalke eventually winning the rights to Holtby’s signature in the summer of 2009 for a rather modest €2.5m. Although his big move came, Holtby only made a handful of appearances in Gelsenkirchen before spending the next couple of years out on loan at VfL Bochum and Mainz 05, respectively, the latter of which saw him approached by the German national team for his debut in a goalless friendly in 2010 against Sweden.
Whilst his exploits for Germany meant a possible affiliation to the English national team was ruled out – due to his father being a former English soldier – ‘Fritz’ as he is affectionately nicknamed by his Everton-supporting father, eventually moved to ply his trade in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, but not before lighting up the Bundesliga with Schalke during the 2011-12 campaign and first-half of the 2012-13 season respectively, where alongside lifting the domestic Community Shield – the DFL-Supercup – in 2011, Holtby showed his true quality as he helped ‘Die Königsblauen’ finish 3rd and gain a Champions League spot, alongside a Europa League Quarter-final finish in his only full season in 2011-12, before he departed to Spurs in January 2013, for a fee of £1.5m for the then-22-year old, leaving the Veltins-Arena with a healthy record of 13 goals and 18 assists in the 79 games he had played for ‘04’.
Having secured his prestigious move to the Premier League, Holtby struggled to assert his dominance within the Spurs midfield during a difficult period for the club itself, which had to cope with the loss of Gareth Bale, a high turnover of players a change in manager in addition to the failure of securing Champions League football for the 2013-14 season. The German under-21 captain’s time with his nation was more fruitful on a personal level, as he was named in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Team of the Tournament, alongside the likes of David De Gea and Isco.
Holtby’s torrid time at Tottenham temporarily came to an end as he moved on loan to struggling Fulham, a year after making the switch to Spurs, in an effort to gain regular football and improve his chance of making the 2014 World Cup squad. Despite his best efforts and more managerial upheaval at Fulham including the arrival of his former manager at Schalke, Felix Magath, Holtby was unable to keep Fulham in the Premier League or earn a place in Germany’s eventual victorious World Cup squad.
The 29-year old’s time in England ended by July 2015 as after striking a loan deal with Hamburg in the summer of 2014, ‘HSV’ opted to make Holtby’s stay at the Volksparkstadion, a permanent one for £4.6m, to where he has plied his trade since, until his release from the second-tier side, this summer. After four seasons back in the Bundesliga, within which he netted the latest Bundesliga goal, against FC Köln, in the 100th minute in August 2017, Holtby was unable to halt Hamburg’s slide down the table, as they continued to flirt with relegation before finally dropping out of the league at the end of the 2017-18 season, vanishing their honour of being the only Bundesliga club to have never been relegated since its inception in 1963. The Erkelenz-born midfielder soon departed the second-tier side with a record of 15 goals and 18 assists in 138 games.
With events transpiring as they did for Rovers’ new number 22, who is in the prime of his career, he will undoubtedly be an important cog at 29-years old, within Rovers’ young, but talented machine as the gruelling months of the season are yet to come, with rotation in the centre of the park with the likes of Lewis Travis, Bradley Johnson, Stewart Downing and Bradley Dack, vital if Rovers are hoping to go on a run and break into the top six. This shrewd piece of business by Tony Mowbray not only adds to Rovers’ impressive incomings but offers the creative outlook and experience at the highest level, that Mowbray has been trying to instil within his side, following the additions of Johnson and Downing, who themselves have impressed in the Blue and White of Rovers.
