Former Manchester City, Roma and Inter striker Edin Dzeko has joined 2. Bundesliga leaders Schalke on a free transfer.

The 39-year-old has penned a short-term contract with the Gelsenkirchen club, to run until the end of the campaign, having left Fiorentina after just half a season.

It marks a return to German football for Dzeko, who made 142 appearances and scored 85 goals for Wolfsburg between 2007 and 2011.

Dzeko then joined Manchester City in January 2011, going on to score 72 goals in 189 outings for the club, winning two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and one EFL Cup.

He left for Roma – initially on loan – in 2015 and enjoyed his most prolific years in Italy, playing 260 times and scoring 119 times for the Giallorossi before switching to Inter, who he helped reach the Champions League final in 2023.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina icon, who is his country's all-time leading scorer with 72 goals in 146 caps, joins a side atop of German football's second tier, four points clear of Elversberg.

Schalke were Champions League semi-finalists as recently as 2011 but have been out of the Bundesliga since 2023, when they suffered their second relegation in three years. 

They almost dropped to the third tier last season, before turning things around under head coach Miron Muslic, who joined from Plymouth Argyle last May.