Germany striker Lukas Podolski has admitted he was happy to see the back of Jurgen Klinsmann when he was sacked as coach of Bayern Munich.

Although it was Klinsmann who showed great faith in the 24-year-old by picking him for Germany even when he was playing in the second division with Cologne, the pair rarely saw eye to eye when Klinsmann arrived to coach Bayern last summer.

Podolski was told very early on that he was only third choice behind Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni and that, he claims, "was like a punch in the face".

"Klinsmann never really took me seriously," Podolski told the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

"If anybody else was out of action, I suddenly became important and had my spirits lifted, but you need to feel this faith all the time.

"He said that it would be a process which would last one or two years before I could get past (Toni and Klose). That was like a punch in the face to me."

After growing disillusioned with life at Bayern under Klinsmann, Podolski was granted a move back to his home-town club Cologne where he will finally assume the position he always craved at Bayern, as the first-choice striker.

He has just completed moving his belongings back to the place where he rose to prominence and now feels at home once again.

"I can hardly wait to get on the field training," he said. "Cologne is simply the best place for my heart.

"This is my club and I want to go places with them.

"Maybe I will stay with FC (Cologne) until the end of my career. They are a fantastic club and everything is perfect."

But Podolski will not forget everything about his three years in Munich, having formed a close bond with general manager Uli Hoeness.

"He acted like a friend to me," added Podolski. "He helped me get this transfer.

"You have got to be able to deal with setbacks like I had at Bayern and learn how to deal with them.

"You emerge from them as a stronger person."

That is exactly what Cologne fans will be hoping when their hero returns to the club he represented between 2003 and 2006, scoring 46 goals in 81 appearances.

They will get to see him back in a Cologne shirt next Thursday when they commence pre-season training under the guidance of new coach Zvonimir Soldo, who is currently pondering whether or not to make Podolski his new captain.