Kyriakos Papadopoulos

Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Κυριάκος Παπαδόπουλος; born 23 February 1992) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Super League club Lamia.

Born in Katerini, Papadopoulos was playing for hometown club Svoronos Katerinis in July 2007 when he was invited on trial to train with the RCD Espanyol youth team during pre-season, with a view to giving the player a role in the youth team.

Papadopoulos, however, performed well enough for the club's management staff to fast-track him to the reserve team, offering him a contract immediately.

Olympiacos scouts were also aware of the prodigy's talents, however, and the former manager of Olympiacos, George Louvaris, was quick to secure a deal with Papadopoulos' father Nikos, thus bringing him to Piraeus.

He immediately featured in several of Olympiacos' pre-season friendlies, three league games and three Greek Cup games.

The 2007–08 season was promising for Papadopoulos.

He made his competitive debut for Olympiacos in the Greek Superleague as a substitute during a 3–1 win over Atromitos on 2 December 2007, thus becoming the youngest player to ever play in the Greek league at the age of 15 years and 283 days.

He also made the substitutes bench in the UEFA Champions League against Real Madrid and Lazio, and featured in several Greek Cup games.

If Papadopoulos had featured in any Champions League games, he would have broken the record for the youngest player to ever compete in the competition by nearly two years.

In September 2008, Papadopoulos signed a new contract with Olympiacos, which included a £4.6 million release clause, over three years.

On 2 November 2008, he made his first league appearance of the 2008–09 season for Olympiacos at home to Ergotelis in a 2–0 home win.

Having made his first league appearances for Olympiacos at the age of 15, Papadopoulos moved to Germany in 2010 to join Schalke 04 and scored on his senior debut for Greece the following year, aged 19.

However, his career progress in the Bundesliga was hampered by a succession of injuries over several seasons.

On 23 June 2010, German club Schalke 04 announced that they had signed Papadopoulos on a four-year deal, keeping him until 2014.

On 21 August 2010, Papadopoulos made his Bundesliga debut for the club in a 2–1 loss against Hamburger SV.

On 25 August 2011, in the qualification round of the UEFA Europa League, he scored his first goal for Schalke in a 6–1 win over HJK Helsinki.

On 1 December, in a group stage game in the Europa League, Papadopoulos scored the opening goal in a 2–1 win over Steaua București.

On 17 December, Papadopoulos scored his first goal in the Bundesliga in a 5–0 win over Werder Bremen and scored the next game on 21 January 2012 in a 3–1 win over VfB Stuttgart.

Since joining Schalke from Olympiacos, Papadopoulos has played in over 70 matches in all competitions, scoring five goals and has ultimately gathered respect and praise from all over Europe due to his tenacious and skillful defending considering his young age.

Ahead of the 2012–13 season, Italian club Milan were interested in signing Papadopoulos.

After showing interest, Schalke accused Milan of making an illegal approach for Papadopoulos without the club knowing.

Also interested were Russian giants Zenit Saint Petersburg, but when their £16 million bid for Papadopoulos was accepted by Schalke, Papadopoulos rejected the move, opting to stay in Germany.

In September 2012, Papadopoulos signed a new contract with Schalke that will keep him at the club until 2016.

On matchday two of the 2012–13 season, Papadopoulos scored his first goal of the season, and third in the Bundesliga, in a 3–1 win over FC Augsburg.

A virus, however, would later kept him out of play for a number of games, and he would later undergo surgery in an attempt to correct a knee injury he suffered in a 3–1 loss away at Hamburger SV in November 2012.

After a very difficult year for the defender marred by injury (383 days to be exact), Papadopoulos returned to action in a home game against SC Freiburg in December 2013.

Just a few weeks after his return to action, however, Papadopoulos suffered a new shoulder injury and could have been forced to undergo surgery.

The news came as another blow, as his recurring knee problems restricted him to just four appearances in the 2013–14 season.

The injury also forced him to miss the 2014 World Cup with Greece.

On 3 August 2014, Bayer Leverkusen signed Papadopoulos on a season-long loan deal.

He told Leverkusen's official website, "I am very happy that it worked out with the change. Bayer 04 is a club just like Schalke with major international ambitions. Unfortunately I was injured more often in the past season. But now I'm back fit and highly motivated to achieve with Leverkusen both my personal goals as well as the club's."

On 3 November 2014, Leverkusen announced that Papadopoulos had been ruled out for the remainder of 2014 with a shoulder injury.

The centre-back suffered the injury in the final training session ahead of his side's UEFA Champions League away match with Zenit Saint Petersburg; he underwent surgery.

"That's just bitter for Papa," Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt told reporters ahead of Leverkusen's trip to Russia.

Following his injury, the club announced that Papadopoulos underwent successful surgery on the following Monday in Herne.

On 8 March 2015, Papadopoulos scored his first Bundesliga goal for Bayer Leverkusen against SC Paderborn.

His injury misery continued after, on 25 April 2015, he dislocated his right shoulder in a league match away against 1. FC Köln.

Leverkusen officials reported that Papadopoulos would return to the training after three months.

On 7 June 2015, Bayer Leverkusen opted to make Papadopoulos' loan from Schalke 04 permanent on a €6.5 million transfer fee, with the player signing a five-year contract.

On 29 September 2015, Papadopoulos scored his first goal in the 2015–16 season in the first half of a Champions League encounter against Barcelona: Hakan Çalhanoğlu, swung in a corner that hit right underneath Barça goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen's crossbar; Papadopoulos headed in the rebound from close range.