Martin Harnik

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Martin Harnik
Personal information
Date of birth June 10, 1987 (1987-06-10) (age 21)
Place of birth    Hamburg, West Germany
Height 185 cm
Playing position Striker, attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club Werder Bremen
Number 34
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2006–
2007–
Werder Bremen U 23
Werder Bremen
35 (9)
09 (1)   
National team
2006
2006–2007
2007–
2007–
Austria U 19
Austria U 20
Austria U 21
Austria
11 (2)
07 (0)
03 (1)
08 (2)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Martin Harnik (born June 10, 1987) is an Austrian footballer, who was born in Germany.

Born in Hamburg to a German mother and an Austrian father (from Graz), he started playing football in 1992 at SC Vier- und Marschlande. In early 2006, he joined the second team of Werder Bremen, playing in the third tier Regionalliga.

Due to a broken metastarsal, Martin missed almost all of the first half of 2007. At the start of the 2007/08 season, the forward was promoted to the Bundesliga side of Werder Bremen, signing a contract until 2010.

On August 15, 2007, the 20-year-old made his debut for the professional team against Dinamo Zagreb, in the first leg of the third Champions League Qualification round (2:1).

His Bundesliga debut came ten days later, in a game against 1. FC Nürnberg (1:0). Being fielded in the 61st minute, he scored the only, winning goal for his side in the 69th minute.

[edit] National team

Harnik, who could have also played for Germany, opted to play for Austria, although he has never lived there, after having been nominated for the youth national teams of the ÖFB, not those of the DFB.

His debut came in a match against Czech Republic in Vienna on August 22, 2007 (1:1). After being on the pitch for just six minutes, he scored the equalizing goal in the 78th minute.

After an impressive display during Austria's opening match of Euro 2008 against Croatia , despite losing 1-0 , Harnik is begining to gain interest from top clubs with Valencia FC ready to make a 5 million euro bid for the player as a replacement for David Silva , English club Arsenal are also keen , along with Everton and Ligue 1 side PSG.[citation needed]