Lukasz Piszczek Planning on Retiring with BVB

Borussia Dortmund legend Lukasz Piszczek has announced that at the end of his current contract, which runs until 2020, he will retire and return to his native Poland.

Lukasz first came to Dortmund on a free transfer from Hertha Berlin in 2010, and quickly became a staple of Jürgen Klopp’s squads, playing pivotal roles in BVB’s back-to-back Bundesliga titles and 2012-13 Champions League run. He stuck with the club through the rough time that was Klopp’s final year, and has continued to provide solid play from the right-back position, even as he’s begun to age.

Many forget that when Piszczek first came to Germany as a teenager, he was a forward. He’s helped translate his origins as an attacker into his status as one of the best attacking full-backs in the Bundesliga over the last 8 years. He collected five, seven, and eight assists in his first three years with Dortmund. Along with players like Phillip Lahm and Dani Alves, Piszczek came to embody the role of the attacking full-back, one of the best in a generation that helped revolutionize the position.

The good news, of course, is that 2020 is a long way away. While Lukasz has shown his age a little bit, I still think he has lots of football left in him. After he retires, he plans on returning to his boyhood amateur club just as a way to stay fit. I’m sure he’ll be glad to be home, but something tells me he’ll occasionally miss playing in front of the yellow wall; I know the wall will miss him.