There will have been a fair amount of excitement among Blackburn Rovers fans when Lewis Holtby joined the club in September 2019.
Arriving on a free transfer after his release from Hamburg, the midfielder's past experience in the Premier League and Bundesliga, as well as his three international caps for Germany, will have had plenty around Ewood Park hoping he could make a major impact for Rovers in the Championship.
Ultimately though, that would never quite happen during Holtby's time in Lancashire. Across two seasons with the club, the creative midfielder managed just four goals and five assists in 56 appearances in all competitions for Rovers, as they recorded back to back mid-table finishes in the second-tier.
As a result, it was perhaps no major surprise that Holtby was released by Blackburn following the expiry of his contract at the end of the 2020/21 season.
Following his departure from Ewood Park, the midfielder returned to his home country of Germany, signing for Holstein Kiel in the country's second-tier.
The midfielder's first season with his new club saw him score once and provide three assists in 24 appearances in total, as Holstein finished ninth in the 2.Bundesliga, well adrift of the play-offs, and comfortably clear of relegation in the 2021/22 campaign.
From a personal perspective, the start of the current campaign has been a rather frustrating one for Holtby, despite recently signing a new contract with Holstein, that keeps him at the club until the summer of 2024.
Having started Holstein's first two games of the season, both of which ended in 2-2 draws, the midfielder was subsequently sidelined by injury for several weeks, only returning to the matchday squad as an unused substitute in a 4-2 defeat at Arminia Bielefeld last time out.
That defeat has left Holstein Kiel eighth in the current second-tier standings in Germany, six points adrift of a play-off spot.
After so long out, Holtby will no doubt now be keen to get back to action in order to help push his side further up the table.