Career So Far: Lewis Holtby
In January 2013, a twenty-two year old attacking midfield prospect by the name of Lewis Holtby arrived in England. A lot was expected from the Anglo-German, but where is he now?
Holtby’s transfer from Schalke was encompassed with hype from the media, with the German starlet arriving earlier than originally anticipated due to an injury to Spurs’ Brazilian midfielder Sandro.
Back then, Holtby was one of the hottest young prospects in the game.
By the age of 22, he had already played seventy-nine games for German outfit FC Schalke 04, contributing to thirty-three returns from central midfield (15 goals, 18 assists).
In this time, he’d already amassed three caps for the German National Team, amidst regularly captaining the Country’s U21’s.
Naturally, when a young prospect continues to knock up impressive statistics at the highest level of German Football, expectations begin to rise.
These expectations carried through to Holtby’s £1.5 million move to Premier League side Spurs, with the Midfielder originally set to move on a free transfer, until the move was of course brought forward due to Spurs’ injury crisis.
Like many young players who make the switch to England, Lewis struggled to adapt to the physicality of the Premier League.
In a total of seventeen games for Spurs during the 2012/13 season, his attacking returns reflected a total of two assists - the same amount of yellow cards he’d amassed.
In fairness, Holtby showed slight improvement during the 2013/14 season, registering nine attacking returns in twenty-two appearances (3 goals, 6 assists).
However, this was still not enough to impress Tottenham boss at the time; Tim Sherwood.
After growing increasingly frustrated with a lack of game time at Spurs, Holtby made a loan move to Fulham - linking up with the manager who gave him his debut at Schalke, Felix Magath.
Unfortunately, the spell that was meant to revitalise his career in England didn’t pan out the way he would have liked.
After being restricted to just thirteen appearances for Fulham that season, he would go on to register four attacking returns (1 goal and 3 assists) and get accused of “not being a fighter” by Felix Magath as Fulham crashed out of England’s top flight.
Inevitably, the Premier League proved to be too difficult for the young Anglo-German, as he failed to live up to the hype that was cast around him.
As a result, he was shipped back to Germany on loan - plying his trade at Hamburger SV - before Die Rothosen made the move permanent at the end of the season for a fee just shy of £6 million, after a solid showing from Holtby.
Holtby would go on to make 138 appearances in total for Hamburger SV - even dropping down to the second tier of German Football (2. Bundesliga) during the 2018/19 season after their surprise relegation, despite having more lucrative offers from a variety of top clubs as well as taking a large pay cut.
Holtby was a key figure for Hamburger SV in 2. Bundesliga as they bitterly missed out on making the promotion play-offs by a single point.
Playing a total of 1,933 minutes during the 2018/19 season, Holtby delivered nine attacking returns from central midfield in a side that averaged 1.73 points per game when he played - a PPG total that ranked him fifth highest at the club.
As well as this, Holtby captained his side for a total of 11 games out of 34 - which is why it came as a surprise when the club announced that they wouldn't be renewing his contract for the 2019/20 season.
From Bad to Worse
Hamburger SV fans were left dismayed at the club’s decision to let fan favourite Holtby go and set up a petition that achieved thousands of signatures to keep him at the club.
However, their efforts were to no avail.
At the age of 28, the former prospect now found himself to be a free agent, after being rejected by the now German Second Division club that he stayed so loyal to.
As fate would have it though, just one month later and exactly one day after his 29th birthday, Holtby signed for English Championship side Blackburn Rovers - where Tony Mowbray would give him his debut just two days after he had put pen to paper.
Life at Blackburn Rovers
It’s been a steady start to life for Lewis Holtby at Ewood Park.
This season, he has made a total of 18 appearances - with 8 of those seeing him come off the bench as a substitute.
With 10 of those appearances from the attacking midfield position, in total Holtby has produced a steady 5 attacking returns (3 goals and 2 assists), as Blackburn sit in 10th position at the time of writing this.
Similar to his contribution last season at Hamburger SV, Holtby has averaged a figure of 1.73 points per game - a PPG total that ranks him second best at the club this season, sitting just behind Jacob Davenport.
The Unthinkable
On February 1st 2020, Blackburn Rovers took on Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium - with Holtby making his 18th appearance for the Rovers.
With his season up to this point progressing steadily, the unthinkable happened.
Around the 37th minute, the Germany international was forced off after suffering a lateral ligament injury in his knee, in what would be a season ending injury.
A glimmer of hope
In the post-match interview after the Middlesbrough game, Rovers boss Tony Mowbray said:
"If we make the play-offs he might have a chance, but he'll be unavailable for the next 12 weeks”
Of course, this was before Covid-19 impacted us to the extent of isolation.
Blackburn still have a chance to sneak into the play-off places with nine games to go, as they find themselves just three points off at the time of writing this.
Also, as of the 6th of March, Holtby told the club website that he’s “very happy” with his injury progression and is working his way back to fitness.
Here’s hoping that Lewis makes a full recovery in time for when the season resumes - should the decision be made.
In Summary:
The Anglo-German was tipped for great success throughout his career - but with some difficult choices, bad luck and ruthless decisions from respective Managers, his career hasn’t quite gone as planned.
Though it’s worth noting that he has achieved success in his own right, staying loyal to Hamburger SV, never giving up on his dream of playing in England and establishing himself as a fan favourite wherever he goes.
Lewis Holtby is a success in his own right for the tenacity he has displayed during his career and he may still get his chance of playing in the Premier League, should Blackburn get promoted.
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Article by: Samuel Slaney
Thumbnail by: Samuel Slaney
Images interpreted from: Getty Images & Blackburn Rovers