The German international Lukas Podolski arrived with a fanfare in the summer of 2012, but for some reason (only known to Arsene Wenger I am sure) he has never been able to get a regular starting spot unless injuries have forced him into the team.
In two full seasons he has only made 39 starts in the Premier League despite scoring in every second game (19 goals!) even though he has generally been used as a left-winger. With the arrival of Alexis Sanchez and Wenger’s penchant for using central midfielders on the wing, Podolski is even more unlikely to get a game now and it seems that he has finally had enough of sitting on the bench every week.
Podolski was quoted in the Guardian as saying: “I am a full-blooded player, a street player and I love competition,” the 29-year-old told RTL television.
“If I don’t have this competition every weekend then a change must occur.”
Other than a few minutes at the end of a couple of games, Podolski was only given a full 90 minutes in the League Cup defeat to Southampton, where he failed to shower himself in glory. When asked directly if he would be staying at Arsenal until the end of his contract he replied honestly: “We will have to see. But it is certainly something one has to think about,”
The German has the best percentage scoring record in the last couple of seasons of any current Arsenal player, and many fans have often wondered why Wenger refuses to allow him to improve his record. Surely Arsenal should let him leave if Wenger has no intention of playing him, and use his wages for someone who may actually get picked?