Leverkusen loan Gekas to struggling Hertha

Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen will loan Greece striker Theofanis Gekas, the league’s top-scorer in the 2006/07 season, to bottom club Hertha Berlin, it was announced on Thursday.

The 29-year-old has found himself surplus to requirements at Leverkusen this season where Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok and Germany forward Steffan Kiessling have become coach Jupp Heynckes’ first-choice pairing.

“We have reached an agreement with Leverkusen, Gekas will be in our squad when training resumes on January 3,” said Berlin’s general manager Michael Preetz with the Bundesliga set to start the winter break after this weekend.

Hertha will have the option of buying Gekas, who scored 20 goals for Bochum in the 2006/07 season, if the loan deal is successful.

As the Bundesliga approaches the halfway stage, Hertha Berlin are already strong relegation contenders with just one win from 16 games and they are six points adrift at the foot of the table.

Gekas has made six Bundesliga appearances this season for Leverkusen, the majority as substitute, and spent the first half of the year in the Premier League on loan to Portsmouth without success.

He has made 45 appearances for Greece who have drawn South Korea, Argentina and Nigeria in Group B for next June’s World Cup in South Africa.