Kevin-Prince Boateng announces Hertha BSC is his final destination
Ghanaian midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng announced today that his first club in his career will also be his final club in a long, distinguished career at the top level of football.
The 34-year-old rejoined his boyhood side Hertha BSC ahead of the 2021/22 season and he confirmed to bundesliga.com that Hertha will be the final club of his established playing career.
The Ghanaian has played for Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth, Genoa, AC Milan, Schalke, Las Palmas, Eintracht Frankfurt, Sassuolo, Barcelona, Fiorentina, Besiktas and Monza, but he returns to Berlin for one last hurrah with the club that gave him his debut.
"I still can't believe it, it's a dream come true," Boateng told German daily Bild of his return to Hertha. "We started discussions about 18 months ago, then Fredi [Bobic] came in [as managing director for sport]. I told him: 'I only have one dream - I want to pull on the Hertha shirt at the Olympiastadion one more time.' Fredi said: 'Let's do everything to make that dream a reality'. "I don't know how long it'll last, but it'll be enough for me. It's definitely my last club."
Boateng knows that he is not going to walk straight into head coach Pal Dardai's starting XI: "I know I have to knuckle down," the former Ghana international explained. "The Bundesliga's a more athletic league than it was, the lads are younger - they don't stop running. Luckily, my positional play is good."
"There are some talented players here, but it's a young team that needs leadership. I know all too well that talent alone isn't enough. I learnt that, especially in Milan. The dressing room was full of superstars. That's when I knew that if you don't work hard, you won't play.
"I certainly haven't come here and said: 'I'm Prince Boateng, I have to play every game.'"
Boateng is a man with plenty of accolades from his playing career, including title wins in Italy and Spain as well as a DFB-Pokal triumph with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2018. A career with over 420 appearances - including 129 in the Bundesliga, Boateng is not short of experience and he will be in the squad, lending a guiding hand to some of Hertha's younger players.
He also hopes to steer the Berliners back into Europe and, in a perfect world, to a home DFB Cup final.
"Hertha want to be playing in Europe in the future. For that, you need experience and a deep squad. Everyone's working towards that," Boateng said.
"As for the DFB Cup final in Berlin, we all had that dream when I was here at 17. We all talked about it, but perhaps it's best not to. That way, it'll be a nice surprise for us all."