Lewis Holtby Biography
Lewis Holtby's career seems like a fairy tale. Within three years he moved from the second German Bundesliga to a great team in the English Premier league. His dream was finally fulfilled in 2013.
Childhood
Lewis Harry Holtby was born on September 18th, 1990 in Erkelenz, Germany. He is the son of English Chris Holtby and German Heidi Holtby.
Holtby has both German and British citizenship. His younger brother Joshua currently plays of the U17 team of Borussia Möchengladbach. Lewis started his career playing for Sparta Gerderath, before moving to Borussia Mönchengladbach later.
In 2004, he was told to leave the club. His coach said his physical deficits were too big. So, Holtby moved to Alemannia Aachen.
Alemannia Aachen
At the start, Holtby played on several youth teams and on Aachen's second team. Holtby made his debut in the second Bundesliga in the 2007/2008 season when he was substituted in a game against FC St. Pauli.
He established himself among the team in the following season. He scored and assisted several goals. Some Bundesliga teams scouted him and at the end of the season he decided to leave Aachen to join Schalke 04.
Schalke 04/VFL Bochum/FSV Mainz 05
Lewis Holtby signed a four-year contract with Schalke 04. He appeared in the first game of the season, but could not get a spot in the starting 11.
Both Schalke and Holtby decided that he needed more playing experience. After 6 months with Schalke he moved to VFL Bochum on loan.
He scored his first Bundesliga goal on March 13th, 2010 against Borussia Dortmund, but he could not prevent Bochum from relegation to the second Bundesliga. Due to the relegation, Holtby's contract expired, and he moved to FSV Mainz 05 for another year on loan.
The season, especially the first half, became his final breakthrough in senior soccer. He scored 2 goals in his debut in the German Cup. He scored 4 and assisted many goals in the entire season and helped Mainz placing 5th in the Bundesliga.
Schalke 04 and Tottenham Hotspur
At the beginning of the 2011/2012 season, Holtby returned to Schalke 04. He got a spot in the starting 11 and made his international debut in a Europa League game against Bucharest.
Holtby played 27 games and scored 6 goals. Nonetheless, he decided not to extend his contract with Schalke after the season, as he wanted to fulfill his dream to play in the English Premier league. In January 2013 he moved to Tottenham Hotspur.
