Italian soccer club Lazio confirmed on its official website late Wednesday that it had snapped up German international veteran Miroslav Klose on a free transfer.

Klose, who turned 33 on Thursday, had announced earlier in the week that he would not be signing a fresh contract with his former club, Bayern Munich.

Klose was set to undergo medical tests - usually a formality - in Rome on Thursday.

The Polish-born German international, who has never played outside of the German leagues before, is Germany's second-most prolific goal-scorer of all time, having found the net 61 times in 109 appearances for his country.

Despite a difficult season with Bayern Munich, where he lost his first-team spot to countryman Mario Gomez, Klose had remained German coach Joachim Löw's first choice up front for most of the year.

However, Gomez's strong form in recent matches - the Bundesliga's top scorer has netted four in his past three games for Germany - may have cast some doubt over the established national team pecking order.

'All the best in the 'eternal city''

"Heartfelt congratulations, Miro!" the German national team wrote on their official Twitter account on Thursday. "The international striker has two reasons to celebrate today: it's his 33rd birthday, and he's moving to Lazio Rome." Under their @DFB_Team username, the German football association also wished Klose all the best in the 'eternal city.'

Klose has played in the Bundesliga with Kaiserslautern, Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich, serving lengthy stints at all three sides.

In his four most recent seasons with Bayern, Klose netted 24 goals, twice winning the league and domestic cup double in 2008 and 2010.

With 14 World Cup goals to his name over three tournaments, Klose is joint-second in the list of all-time World Cup goal-scorers. He shares second place with Gerd Müller, the only man ever to score more goals for Germany than Klose.

Author: Mark Hallam (dpa, SID)
Editor: Martin Kuebler