SCOTLAND forward Lisa Evans has revealed she will join Bayern Munich in the summer.
The 22-year-old from Perth could leave Turbine Potsdam as a German Cup winner as her club qualified for the final with a 2-1 win over Champions League semi-finalists FFC Frankfurt on Wednesday.
"I've been talking to Bayern for a few months," Evans said. "I went down to Munich to visit them and was really impressed. I think they play the best football in the Bundesliga."
Evans's statement is borne out by Bayern's top of the table position with just three games remaining - although Wolfsburg and Frankfurt, who have four games left, are also contenders. Regardless of how the results fall, Bayern should be assured of one of the two German places in next season's Champions League.
The move follows an injury-ravaged season for the former Glasgow City player, who is deployed in the front three for Potsdam but usually wide left for Scotland. What first appeared to be shin splints was later diagnosed as a stress fracture, and although she played in both of Scotland's disappointing World Cup play-off matches against the Netherlands in October she wasn't fully fit.
The former St Johnstone Girls player missed last month's Cyprus Cup but has returned to the Potsdam team and is in the Scotland squad for next Thursday's friendly against Australia at the Falkirk Stadium.
"I've missed it a lot," she said of her recent absences from international duty. "I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again."
Although Evans is leaving a far more successful club - Potsdam have won six Bundesliga titles since 2004 and won the Champions League twice - the potential of a successful Bayern Munich side is obvious. The women's team has its own 10,000-seater stadium and has been rejuvinated under 33-year-old coach Thomas Worle, who has assembled a remarkably cosmopolitan squad with players from nine different countries even before Evans' arrival.
"In previous years they have always threatened in the league but fallen away through not having the experience," Evans pointed out. "They have brought in Melanie Behringer (a German midfielder with over 100 caps) as captain and that, added to the depth of squad they have, has made a huge difference."
Before she leaves Potsdam, who have a slim chance of snatching a Champions League spot, Evans has the German Cup final against Wolfsburg at Cologne's RheinEnergieStadion to anticipate.
"It's going to be very exciting," she said of the May 1 game, "and it would mean a lot to have a winners' medal. It would be the first thing I've won in Germany."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Â
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Â
That is invaluable.Â
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article