How Podolski could hold the key to Arsenal DM problem!?!

I know it sounds strange Arsenal fans. Lukas Podolski may be a slightly better player fro tracking back from the left forward position than Santi Cazorla, but that does not take much. The German could hardly be called a tigerish defender and I am not suggesting that Arsene Wenger plays him as the deepest sat central midfielder.

But the 29-year old could still hold the key to solving Arsenal’s age old defensive midfield dilemma. How? Well there are lots of Arsenal transfer rumours suggesting that the World Cup winning striker is set to leave the Emirates before thew summer transfer window closes and the club most likely to take him was the Italian champions Juventus.

But they don’t seem to want to cough up the cash and are trying a cheeky bid to get him on loan. I doubt whether Wenger is too keen on this, so the report in The Express about the Bundesliga club Wolfsburg also being keen on Podolski could be the perfect solution for us. Especially when you remember that a certain Luis Gustavo plays for Wolfsburg.

If I was Wenger then I would definitely ask the question at least and while I was at it I would politely remind the German club that they really need another striker, because they are the poor club that has taken a chance on the superstar that is Nicklas Bendtner. God help them! If we are to lose Podolski, at least this way we would be strengthening rather than weakening the Arsenal squad. What do you think?

Tags Gustavo Wolfsburg

77 Comments

      1. Podolski just can’t go we need him around, in fact he’s the only close 2van persie who people on here keep on crying for(in terms of finishing). All he needs is more playing time n’ freedom 2play in his prefered position.
        Otherwise wilshere should be replaced by the ox in the starting 11.

        1. Uhm, the reason people want to sell him is so that we can buy a top forward like RvP. Finishing is the ONLY way in which Podolski is similar to RvP.

    1. Now Giroud is confirmed out for 3 months, and even b4 that we still need a striker, so I think we have to keep poldi and buy another ST, give them the cash for Gustavo. Period

        1. Giroud slept over at Diaby’s house and took full advantage of all his self-scanning equipment. Giroud confirmed he’s out for 3 months, while Diaby injured his own back bringing Giroud a tray of biscuits.

          1. good 1 mate. M glad we r still smiling amidst peak transfer hours, when other teams are strengthening.

    2. LOL it seems no one take into account what Wolfsburg will think about this so call good swap deal. It is not only US who decide things in a deal of 2 parties.
      Let’s put ourselves on their shoes. Assume Real Madrid comes to us and said – we have Khedira who could solve your DM problem but is surplus to our requirement, but we only let you get him if you give us back either Koscielny or Ramsey. Of course we will turn it down, and that will be the same for Wolfsburg who just spend big money to get Gustavo last season and not in any pressure to sell their prize assets.

    3. gustavo will never happen and we all know that, plus I still think podolski is quality and can play as a striker. He is a great finisher and should be given the chance to play in that position. we need him now. plus we have enough cash to spend on carvalho, so why not just get carvalho+a defender and give podolski a chance upfront

  1. PODOLSKI MUST NOT LEAVE! Period.

    I don’t think we will ever find a player that has a similar explosive left foot and personality.

    1. This comment makes me sick. Seriously.

      We are paying this guy 100k a week and most of what I hear is “good left foot and great guy”. I couldn’t give a flying one about his personality and neither should anyone else. He’s an average player that always flatters to deceive and you have people saying “we must keep him”, it’s a bleeding joke. 100k

      Take that in for a second.

      100k per week.

      That money should be going on someone that might play for us week in, week out, not some player that smiles and is great on twitter.

      1. Too true, mate. People won’t look back in years to come and say “Remember when we nearly won the title back in 2014/15 season? It was so close but at least we had Podolski with his smiley face at the club back then”.

    2. Except having a good personality is completely useless if you don’t track back, work hard, play the role assigned to you to a consistently high level…

      I love Podolski, but he is the epitome of expendable. Get him out and off the 100k wages and throw that money at Marco Reus. Time to be ruthless and proactive.

      Reus is interesting, he’s available for 28mil yet no bids? Means either he’s staying for sure or he’s agreed a deal with a team and is just waiting for confirmation of their CL place…

      *fingers crossed*

      1. How is he expendable? Ryo is expendable, Podolski is actually a high scorer for Arsenal in his period here compared to other players playing in midfield.

        Sure it might be best if he left but don’t go pretending like he is a nobody. He was key in many many games for Arsenal over his time here.

        1. Does he contribute enough to justify his salary being what? 3rd highest? No. Does he hold down a starting spot? No.

          Can we recoup some money, offload massive wages and replace him with someone better/more consistent? Yes

          That’s why he’s expendable. Ryo is not an example at all, he is irrelevant…. He doesn’t play and as such isn’t someone we would ‘replace’ if he left. Stop being so sensitive over Podolski because he’s a nice guy. If he didn’t have such charisma fans would’ve been screaming for him to be ditched long ago.

          1. In his first season he averaged a goal every three games. In his second season he averaged a goal every 2.5 games.

            Does that sound expendable to you? If it does then you need a reality check. The guy is clocking up figures most wide players would dream of.

            He has been scoring at a quicker rate in the league than our striker you numpty. We would have collapsed without his goals.

            Expendable my backside. He is one of the stars of the team for his two seasons here and I wish him all the best if he leaves.

        2. If we sign a new forward one of our other first team forwards must go to avoid squad congestion.

    3. Alright to whoever said that he is useless. You ARE A USELESS FAN.
      He scores when we really need him to, especially against West Ham away, against Fulham away and of course last season against Bayern Munich. It was a very tight angle and I don’t believe that other players would’ve also scored from there against Neuer. Do not say he is useless.

      Also, if Torres is getting 140k-150k a week, I have no problem with Podolski’s 90k-100k wage.

      And I don’t get why people want Reus. I don’t think he is the best option out there. I don’t even know why most people are so obsessed with him. Don’t get me wrong, he IS A TALENTED PLAYER. He won’t leave Dortmund anyway and there are a lot of better left wingers out there. And keep in mind Wenger prefers an agile playmaker on the left wing than a natural winger.

      Podolski must stay, not only because of his quality finishing. But because you have to balance the personalities in the squad. We have no one like Podolski, he jokes but doesn’t annoy people, he isn’t Robin Van C*nt.

  2. This drama of injuries and letting go of good players is just getting too much for me. I can now clearly see another Kim Kardashian sort of panic signing at the last moment. The excuses will be many. Wenger should really have been proactive this season in signing players like all the other top clubs have done. He has had the feel of the bad experience regarding all the injuries last season, so no no excuses! I wish and hope he can surprise us all by signing a WC striker and a CDM, this will make me shut up and respect him more.

  3. Injured.
    Ospina Arteta Diaby
    Giroud Ryo Gibbs Walcott.
    Sanogo injury prone.
    Ramsey suspended.
    Podolski not playing because
    of not wanting to be cup tied.
    Coquelin not good enough.
    Gnabry not wanted.
    Ox and Ozil not yet fully fit.
    Campbell and Sanchez new to EPL.
    Rosicky hardly used.
    Wilshere battling.
    Cazorla played out of position.
    Apart from that the team
    is in great nick 🙂

    1. Gnabry is injured, you can’t be cup tied in a ucl qualifier as its a different competition to the actual champions league and Cazorla has been playing as a left winger for 10 years. In fact a former player said that he likes his wide players cutting inside. People say that he ruined Arshavin’s career but in his first to amazing years he played there so it is no excuse. Coutinho and Nasri are no10s that play wide and they aint the quickest.

      1. Cazorla only played on the left when he came to Arsenal. All of his previous clubs played him as a CAM. He used to occasionally play on the right for his other clubs though, but back then he had a lot more pace.

  4. What a load if twaddle. You hear about wingers being converted into DM all the time don’t you!

    The only way you could turn podolski into a defensive midfielder is to swap him for gustavo!

  5. This is a very thoughtful and worthwhile article, the only problem is wenger is not as sensible as we are… Wenger never trades players, he had the chance to take lamela by giving roma gervinho, but what did he do? Guys we need a new Manager.

    1. Christ, this site is awash with the revisionist knee-jerk theorists and the “told-you-so (but you didn’t really)” brigade. Jovetic and Lamela now hot-property – you wouldn’t have said a word against Wenger would you if he had coughed at £33M last season for EL and we got a season of injury, non-appearances, zero contribution etc – yeah right.

  6. Pls, who has seen Jenkinson play for West-Ham. Does he even start in the first place? Just wondering if he can be our second choice RB in some years.

  7. Karma is a b!*ch Wenger, learn from it.

    We’ve all been crying out for a good striker for years now, and now the only guy we’ve been training / relying on playing striker is out. This has panic buy written all over it again same as in the Ozil case (I know we love him blablabla but his buy was due to fans pressure). Its good to do business early when you are trying to buy top players as it allows the other club to secure a replacement in time as well. Who would want to sale there best striker to Arsenal on transfer deadline day! Even Balo looks appetizing now huh.

    Anyway quick recovery OG. Whether we like it or not if we do not secure another striker before the transfer window is shut the team (1st 11) will miss you big time.

    Injuries are threating to loose the season and be knocked out of CL two games into the season. Only at Arsenal

    1. Ozil wasn’t a panic buy did you even hear what Wenger said? The signing of Alexis proves that this isn’t true plus Arsene Wenger said that he doesn’t listen to pundits or social media to judge his team which explains why he is so calm and comes across as arrogant. Only Arsene Wenger knows his team better than Arsene Wenger which is why he will most definitely by a dm who he identified last season. Trust me I think Campbell or Sanogo will step up and Alexis will get fit and up to form.

      1. With due respect to your opinion mate I don’t need to listen to Wenger or make assumptions to know what’s wrong with our beloved club, come on open your eyes man!!! Do you actually think Wenger would have bought Ozil t at that price had we won the A-Villa game and funs not going crazy at the Emirates last season? Wenger’s main target last season was Suarez, Ozil only came about because livefool laughed at our bid and we the funs demanded for a signing.

        The three “strikers” you’ve listed above are all unproven in the PL and there not good enough to displace OG in the term currently which should worry all of us! Sanogo is usually injured, Campbell has not played a singer game at ST for us, and Sanchez will need time to settle and his far better on the wings or playing as a support striker.

        All in all having another forward to support or compete with Girould has been our cry for a long time now. What’s AW’s excuse for not buying in other areas we need strengthening too (DM / CB)? Are you buying the CL bulls#, his just waiting for the deadline day and either press the panic button or come up with excuses that he tried his best. I love the man too but Watch and learn, this is Arsene we are dealing with!!!

        1. Arsene Wenger said that he will buy another player before august 14th and deadline day and because of financial fair play, we need to qualify for the ucl to buy this season but next season we can spend even bigger. Diego Costa in unproven in the epl and Ivan Gazidis said we would spend big last season. The signing of Alexis proves that he wasn’t panic buy.

    2. “Karma” is a load of old bollocks – ask Glenn Hoddle. And you still got to love the people still attached to this quaint idea that Wenger bought Ozil because of “fan’s pressure” – altogether now, one, two….three……ah,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ah,ha.

  8. Crazy speculation and I agree that it is hypothetical BS. In my humble opinion, Wenger should try Podolski in the middle until he finds someone better. He can do no worse than Giroud. Starting Sanchez in the middle against Everton was a mistake – even Campbell would have done better, and he probably would have scored in the first half. At least he has a go!! Giroud is NOT the long term answer to Arsenal’s striker woes. We need a player of the calibre of Diego Costa.

  9. Giroud not available and sanogo not good enough for tomorrow’s high profile must win game. With this is mind start podolski up front hopefully he’ll score a few and play well, (if not campbell off the bench) we then sell him after cl spot is secured and buy our targets. There is a risk he gets injured but would be a good send off for poldi. Strikers to be purchased, (x2) asap.

  10. Heard the expression God is a Gooner? Well this top gooner must be so tired of AWs head strong position. The two areas where everyone demands that Wenger strenthens – Strilking and DMF we have collected injuries just in time to challenger AW to dip into the market. Thank God again it happens after he has brought some players in and left others (Imagine if Bendtner was still available) and even Sanoho is out injured. Diaby remain mysteriously out to. So Now AW will have to get A striker and A DMF…even in the defense he has to sign too. Lets hope he has forgoten direction to the basement bargain store, Falcao may be going to Juventus on Loan…How about a loan to Emirate? Cavani at 51M – we have players in the squad that can knock this price down to 30M. Carvalho too we have reports that the price can be knocked down…

    1. Why would Monaco let Falcao out on loan? That’s bullshit as he said that he wants to stay yesterday and that’s like Arsenal loaning Ozil for no reason madness! Sanogo had a very good record at Auxerre and just needs his first goal. Walcott will be back in 2 weeks time and he is proven there. This means that Rosicky can get game time as well. Alexis will be a great false 9 when fit and we can have a pacey interchanging frontline. Joel Campbell could step up and be a gem. Give Campbell and Sanogo a chance and Henry took I think 11 league games for his first. 15 years ago Wenger told Henry “I don’t care if you score, just try” and gave him the confidence to be the greatest league striker of all time!

      1. I don’t want to wait until half-way through the season when our new pseudo-strikers finally settle in to the PL, become accustomed to their new positions and actually start scoring.

        1. You might have to wait. Well for all those that shout buy, buy, buy you have to accept the bedding in of new players is inevitable. New names on the team sheet may look sexy but you rarely get an instant effect. A good reason why Man City look so strong – no major changes to an already good team.

  11. if we want 2 sign a striker & if we can’t get cavani/falcao wenger should go kevin volland or max kruse would rather see them than remy/welbeck

  12. The only option to me is a cdm we need this either way and go all out for reus then we can make it work front alexis behind him reus lw,ozil cam,santi and ox rw anybody else??

  13. According to Graeme Bailey talks with Manolas have broken down Arsenal have contacted Winston Reid’s agents & are considering Nastasić bid

    hope its nastasic not reid

        1. Nastasic is weak and gets bullied which is why City don’t want him and no one has bought him plus they bought Mangala. I don’t want a City reject.

        2. Leo, nastasic is poor, hence he is surplus at man city.

          Thing is we shouldn’t be in this position, vermaelen shouldn’t have been allowed to leave until a replacement was found.

          As for poldi going why? It’s not like we don’t have worse players taking up spaces in the 25 or the champions league A list.

          Any mini exodus should be headed up by ryo, diaby, coquelin and miquel who are all in their last year along with the likes of sanogo and zelalem heading out on loan deals.

          But before we let anyone else leave, let’s sign the 2 or 3 players we need to strengthen our starting x1 and another 2 or 3 to strengthen the squad.

  14. only top club on planet subject to this kind of logic…the ostrich needs to get his head out of the f****** sand and start looking at what we need to be serious challengers this year…clocks tcking

  15. Sad yet again, we start season and have a whole hospital ward full of injuries. Squad has always been too thin Wenger, so now you need to act fast and sign top striker, top CDM and a solid CB…..
    FFS………………..

  16. Hopefully, the injury to giroud will mean that we now sign someone, but for tomorrow I would go like this.

    Szczesney
    Debuchy mertesacker koscielny monreal
    Rosicky Flamini ozil
    Sanchez campbell podolski

    Martinez chambers miquel wilshire cazorla chamberlain akpom.

    1. An actual winger playing at LW? Are you f#ing mad mate?! I’m sorry but Wenger will only ever play Wilshere, Ozil or Cazorla there.

  17. For tomorrow will ask what i know i will never get
    ——————–Szczesny
    —–Mertesacker Koscielny Chambers
    Debuchy———-Flamini———-Monreal
    ————–OX, Ozil, Carzola——–
    —————Sanchez————

    On the 60′ bring in Rosicky and Campbell. that a comfortable 3-0 with a double from Sancez and one from OX…if this squad plays. Assists Dubechy, Carzola and Monreal…(Champions League Participation Number 4 Trophy will be a third trophy in the bag!!!)

  18. Last season he suffered because of injuries and actually played good. He is the best finisher in our squad, he can score long range goals (something we don’t do often) and he has loads of experience. We should keep him and I think he will do very good this season, he wants to make a point

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors