Lukas Podolski is on the brink of making a permanent switch to Galatasaray. Latest reports indicated that the Turkish club is confident of sealing the transfer. If they are successful to do so, it would be after three unsuccessful attempts from the Turkish giants.
Galatasaray tried to sign him in 2012 from the German club FC Koln only to see him joining the Gunners in an £11 million transfer. They were persistent with their efforts of snatching the German midfielder but were rebuffed by Arsenal twice.
Podolski is coming off a frustrating season. The first half of the last season saw him spend most of his time on the bench. He could not make even a single start and was eventually off-loaded in the January transfer window.
Italian giants Internazionale took Podolski on loan till the end of season which proved unsuccessful. He could only make 17 appearances for Inter, most of which are from the bench. A return of just one goal showed that the spell was ineffective for the German forward.
Podolski even went ahead to acknowledge that the loan spell at Inter was ‘a mistake’. But, there were no assurances of game time from the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. It looked inevitable that he moved out of the Emirates stadium.
And the usual suitors Galatasaray came knocking again and are very close to getting their man. Podolski’s agent Nassim Touihri reiterated that he had cordial discussions with Wenger who wanted to keep him at Arsenal but couldn’t promise game time.
‘We had very good talks with Wenger,’ Touihri told Bild.
‘He wanted to keep Lukas, but couldn’t give him a guarantee that he will be starter.
‘That’s why we agreed on a transfer.’
Podolski has just one year to run on his £100,000-a-week contract. The 30 year old has moved so much back in the pecking order that he wouldn’t be able to command a place either as a forward or on the wings.
The former Bayern Munich forward has made 82 appearances for Arsenal and scored 31 goals. At Galatasaray, Podolski will have a chance to prove himself in the continental championship – Champions League.
With the coming season culminating in Euro 2016, national team hopefuls should be looking at more game time. Podolski is no exception. He still harbors hopes of getting into the very competitive German national side.
In fact, the German national coach Joachim Low has said that Podolski needs to play regularly if he wants to be picked for the national side and add to his 125 caps.
What do you think? Will Podolski be missed at Arsenal? Will he be able to get his mojo back at Galatasaray? We all wish him good luck with his career but he is hardly going to be remembered as an Arsenal legend!
Sridhar