Every Arsenal fan has believed that Arsene Wenger has always had a problem with Lukas Podolski because he has never given the German international an extended run in the Gunners first team, despite being our most consistent goalscorer for the last few years.
Now that Lukas has gone out on loan, he has only confirmed that he felt exactly the same, and could never understand what he had done to upset the manager. “He said nothing to me. He did not call me or say goodbye,” Podolski was quoted as saying on ESPN, and he explained his situation in some detail.
“I don’t need flowers or a kiss from him. But it is about respect, about saying goodbye. For me respect is important.
“I did everything for the club I possibly could have. I don’t believe I did anything wrong. I did not get drunk in a club.
“I wish all of Arsenal and their amazing fans the very best for this season and I see myself as a Gunner. Nothing from him to me, though, but that is his way.”
“I don’t want communication every day as I am a professional. You do it on the training ground, but when you move somewhere, you get a message. Maybe he had other problems with me but I don’t know.
“He told me he did not want me to go just before the transfer window but never said anything else after that. I had to move forward. I could not wait for 25 injuries.
“It is not a problem to sit on the bench. Absolutely not. When you have three games in a week and you don’t play, you have to think about it, though.
“Maybe I made mistakes, I don’t know. I trained well and wanted to play.”
Podolski’s finished off by telling us exactly when he knew that he was banging his head against a brick wall when he was finally given a chance against Galatasaray in the Champions League when he scored twice in a 4-1 win.
But yet again he was parked back on the bench, and in fact has only started two games this season even though in Wenger’s words “the squad has been decimated”. It seems like Wenger wanted him to force a move away.
“If I had been given a run of five or 10 games and played really s***, then I could say ‘fair enough, I am not good enough’,” .
“I don’t say I should have played every game. When you have three games in a week and sit all of them on the bench, this is not fair.
“I was happy at the club. I played 82 games and scored 31 goals plus assists. That’s not bad. But when you don’t get a chance you cannot show what you can do – and the last five months I hardly played.
“Wenger said to me I was the best finisher at the club. Let me play, then. If you always play 10 or 15 minutes, you can show nothing. I was coming on at either 0-0 or 2-0 or 3-0 down.
“My team-mates were asking me what was going on, but this is the life of a footballer.
“The big moment was after the Champions League game. I played a very good game against Galatasaray and then I was on the bench again. I knew I had to move.”
It is very revealing that even the other Arsenal players couldn’t understand why Wenger didn’t play him, and just shows that Le Prof doesn’t ever explain his decisions. This is probably one of the most revealing interviews ever with an ex-Wenger player……