Injury-prone Germany defender Holger Badstuber signed a one-year deal with newly-promoted VfB Stuttgart on Friday as the ex-Bayern Munich star looks to resurrect his flagging career at his former club.

The 28-year-old played youth team football for Stuttgart from 2000-2002 and hoping to remain injury-free to help his new club re-establish themselves in Germany's top flight after winning the second division last season.

"No one should ever forget their roots and I never did," said Badstuber, who made the last of his 31 appearances for Germany in March 2015.

"VfB was and is something special for me and emotionally I immediately picked up where I left off."

Badstuber was without an employer in June when his six-month loan deal at Schalke expired.

Neither Schalke nor previous employers Bayern were willing to offer a contract extension despite his experience of having made 129 Bundesliga and 37 Champions League appearances.

Lady luck has not been kind and Badstuber has suffered a horrendous list of injuries since 2012.

As a 21-year-old, he played for Germany at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and was in his prime when die Mannschaft reached the semi-finals of Euro 2012.

However, he tore his cruciate knee ligament in December 2012, then repeated the injury five months later which saw him miss the entire 2013/14 season and cost him the best part of two years.

He forced his way back into the Bayern team for the start of the 2014/15 season, then injured his thigh, meaning another long lay off before he ruptured his quadriceps in April 2015 during a Champions League game.

Following that, he suffered an ankle injury in February 2016.

Desperate for first-team football after falling down the pecking order at Bayern, Badstuber joined Schalke in January on loan, however despite playing 10 league matches neither club offered him a new contract.

Originally, Badstuber had wanted to seek employment abroad to "develop in another country, maybe learn a new language", and had talks with Sevilla and Sporting Lisbon, but nothing came of it.

Now his challenge is to "cross off the last few years, start a new chapter and look forward, playing for a few years at the top level".