Defender Badstuber to leave Bayern after 15 years

BERLIN ( Reuters) - Bayern Munich defender and former international Holger Badstuber will not return to the German champions after his loan spell at Schalke 04 at the end of the season, the Bavarians said on Friday.

Badstuber, plagued throughout his career by serious injuries, had joined Schalke in January to get match practice.

The 28-year-old, who joined Bayern 15 years ago, is likely to continue his career abroad as a free agent, Bayern said.

"It was clear from the start that Holger Badstuber, after his loan spell at Schalke, would seek a new experience most likely abroad," Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a statement, adding his contract ran out next month.

Badstuber, who has earned 31 caps for Germany since 2010, suffered consecutive cruciate ligament tears in 2012 and 2013 that kept him out for long spells before several more injuries in recent seasons.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Janet Lawrence)