FORMER Wanderers defender Pawel Olkowski has returned to Poland after eight years playing abroad.

The international right-back has returned to Gornik Zabrze, the club he initially left in 2014 to sign for FC Koln.

Olkowski quit Wanderers in May 2019 after the club went into administration with players unpaid by the club for months.

Signed from the Bundesliga by Phil Parkinson in the summer of 2018, Olkowski impressed in the Championship early on and was described as a “Rolls Royce” by the former Bolton boss.

When wage problems began to emerge later that year, however, he found it harder to settle in England, eventually invoking a walkout clause in his contract after going unpaid for three consecutive months.

After a spell in Turkish football with Gaziantep, he is now happy to return back home – moving into an apartment close to former Germany international – and new team-mate – Lukas Podolski.

Speaking in the Polish press, Olkowski said: “I wanted to come back to Poland. Theoretically my son should go to school in September and I have been playing abroad for the last eight years, which is probably enough.

“I set myself up for returning to the country and I believe that this direction will allow me to enjoying playing football again.

“It isn’t like I come home longing. I am not interested in retirement but only in playing regularly.”