Ivica Olic returns to Hamburg after five years away from club
Friday 30 January 2015 15:32, UK
Ivica Olic has completed his move back to Hamburg after five years away from the club, most recently with Wolfsburg.
The 35-year-old spent two and a half years with Hamburg until 2009, scoring 48 goals in 115 games before leaving for Bayern Munich.
He spent three seasons in Bavaria before a move to Wolfsburg, where he continued his decent scoring record with 33 goals in less than 100 appearances, five of them coming in 20 games this season.
"I trained as usual for Wolfsburg because training is always good, and at the end of the session, (coach) Dieter Hecking sent me to the manager (Klaus Allofs), who told me that I could go home - to Hamburg," Olic told the Hamburger Morgenpost.
"I'm happy. Very happy. This is a new challenge for me and I'm grateful for it. I trained all the time for Wolfsburg and now I will show on the pitch for Hamburg why they brought me back and that I am still good enough to help the team."
Olic has left a side second in the table and pushing for a place in the Champions League next season, for one that is fighting relegation, with Hamburg sitting in 14th place, outside the bottom three only on goal difference.
But that did not affect his desire for a return to the club, as he added: "If I had ever thought of moving, then it would only have been to Hamburg. They got in touch and told me that they desperately wanted me and that I should help get them out of this difficult situation, and that is what I want."
Hamburg face Cologne on Saturday but such is the tight nature of the bottom half of the Bundesliga, victory would take them above their 11th placed opponent - only four points cover Paderborn in 10th from bottom placed Freiburg.
Cologne coach Peter Stoger believes Hamburg have improved recently but he believes the same can be said of his side.
"We're going to be aiming to get something even from our away games," Stoger said. "We want to take our chances and win this match."
After the final whistle, Stoger will turn his attention to trying to make the most of the final 48 hours of the transfer window to strengthen his squad for the run-in.
He added: "Of course we would love to sign Carlos Eduardo, but we have always said that we have total faith in the squad we have got."
