Berlin, Jun 6 (IANS): Austrian international Philipp Lienhart has signed a permanent deal with Freiburg, the German Bundesliga football club has announced.

The 21-year-old centre back played one year on loan at Freiburg and has penned an undisclosed long-term deal with the "Breisgauer", reports Xinhua news agency.

"Philipp has developed with us and quickly integrated into the team. Faster than expected, he came to his first appearances and met our expectations directly," Freiburg's sporting director Klemens Hartenbach said.

In 2017, Lienhart joined Freiburg from Spanish giants Real Madrid on loan and has made 11 appearances since.

"In our positive communication with Real Madrid it became clear that all involved parties did not want to interrupt this positive development at Freiburg. We would like to thank Real for that," Hartenbach added.

The centre-back is part of Austria's national team, making his debut in October 2017. His new club completed the past Bundesliga season at 15th place in the standings.