After much speculation about the player's future, Nicklas Bendtner has signed for Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg on a costless transfer. Bendtner signed a three-year deal and was announced by Die Wölfe this morning.
The Danish striker, who stands at 6ft 4in, left Arsenal in the summer after his contract expired, the club that he had spent nine years at. In his spell at the Gunners, which included loan spells at Sunderland, Birmingham and Juventus, he scored 47 goals in all competitions, having made 171 appearances. Bendtner has found it hard to play or score on a consistent basis, and was frozen out by Arséne Wenger towards the end of his Arsenal days.
Bendtner spoke about the club following his arrival, and was full of praise for Wolfsburg and the Bundesliga, as well as how he may settle in at his new club:
"If a good club is interested in me, I am happy. I didn't think twice about moving to Wolfsburg. The Bundesliga is a great league that has performed well in recent years. I had German in school as well. I don't think it will take long to learn the language."
The Wolfsburg hierarchy also talked about the transfer, with Director of Sport Klaus Allofs and manager Dieter Hecking both having their say on the Dane:
Allofs - "Nicklas Bendtner is at the very best possible age for a striker. During his career – which wasn’t always so straightforward – he managed to gather a great deal of international experience and he adds further quality to our attack."
Hecking - "We want to play a significant role in all three competitions this season and to do so, we need players who are used to such demands and capable of dealing with them. Nicklas is exactly the kind of striker we had been looking for. He perfectly fulfills our specifications and he will strengthen our squad."
The news means that Die Wölfe have finally secured a player in their pursuit of a new striker, having previously been linked with Romelu Lukaku, who recently moved to Everton, as well as possible returns for Edin Džeko and Mario Mandžukić to the Volkswagen Arena. The latter has since moved to La Liga champions Atlético Madrid, whilst Džeko is in talks to sign a new contract with Manchester City.
It is not expected that Bendtner will make his debut as early as the DfB-Pokal match away to Darmstadt on Saturday evening. His official debut for Wolfsburg is likely to come on the opening day of the Bundesliga season, when they head to the Allianz Arena to face champions Bayern Munich.