Germany's Lukas Podolski could play on the left-hand side of midfield at Euro 2008 rather than his customary position up front.

The Bayern Munich man impressed coach Joachim Low with his display on the left in Germany's friendly win over Serbia at the weekend.


Podolski's deployment in a wide-midfield role would allow Low to partner first-choice Miroslav Klose with Stuttgart's Mario Gomez in attack.

Former Cologne striker Podolski has struggled to find the net since joining Bayern, while Gomez hit 19 Bundesliga goals last season.

Low told Munich-based newspaper TZ: 'Lukas' outing in this position pleased me most of all against Serbia.

'Normally he is a striker, but he can also come from midfield. The possibility of playing Lukas on the left-hand side from the beginning or switching him there during the game is certainly an option.'

The 22-year-old may be in line for a change of club as well as position.

Fans of newly-promoted Bundesliga side Cologne are clubbing together in a bid to bring him back to the club.

Podolski was brought up through the Cologne youth system and made the breakthrough into the Germany team while on their books thanks to his record of 46 goals in 81 games.

His struggles at Bayern have alerted the Cologne faithful, with a group of several hundred now hoping they can fund a transfer.

'We want to do something for Cologne and this is a serious issue,' explained organiser Michael Breitkopf in the Kolner Express newspaper.

'Cologne has millions of fans so if, theoretically speaking, everybody gave 10 euros, we would soon have Poldi back here.

'At the start of next week we are going to open up a bank account for donations.'

Breitkopf and the fans want to save Podolski from what they see as a miserable situation with Bayern, where Klose and Luca Toni are regularly picked ahead of him.

'We cannot just sit and watch how he is wasting away with Bayern,' added Breitkopf.