Socceroo Kruse joins Langerak at Stuttgart

Kruse came off the bench for the second-half of Leverkusen's 3-0 German league defeat at Bayern Munich on Saturday, but it proved to be his final appearance in the Bayer shirt this season.

The 26-year-old has had a tough three years at Leverkusen, where he has a contract until 2017, since his arrival from Fortuna Duesseldorf in 2013.

He was restricted to just 21 Bundesliga appearances and two goals after tearing his cruciate knee ligament and then getting injured again at the start of the year.

It is a brave move by Kruse with Stuttgart second from bottom of the table having narrowly avoided relegation last season, but increases his chances of first-team football after a frustrating period on the Leverkusen bench.

Kruse will link up with Australian goalkeeper Langerak, who underwent surgery for a knee cyst last week and is expected to be out for up to eight weeks, joined Stuttgart from Borussia Dortmund in July.