Having labelled Inter Milan’s attempts to sign Lukas Podolski as ‘a joke’, Arsene Wenger has admitted the Italian side have returned with an offer that the club will consider.
Podolski has been fed up with lack of playing time, and the Italian side were strongly rumoured to be taking him on loan until the end of the season, but their proposal was met with stern words from the Arsenal manager.
However, after today’s disappointing 2-0 defeat to Southampton, it seems they’ve upped the ante with Wenger saying, “The first proposal was farcical, after they came back a bit more serious, then we will see what happens now.
“Inevitable? Not in the transfer market, it’s very difficult to say, but we’ll see later.”
The Frenchman revealed that Podolski might have had a rare outing in the New Year’s Day clash had it not been for a groin injury.
“He was not available because of injury, but he would have had a big chance to start, yes. He has not practised for a few days now, since our last game at West Ham because of a tight groin.
“So I don’t think he will be available for Sunday.”
Whether it’s injury or “injury” that rules him out of the FA Cup game against Hull remains to be seen, but if you were to put money on Podolski being an Arsenal player at the end of January after this development, you’d be a wise to go small.
be sad to see you go pod, but its probably best your career
for*
Any rumour on Inter’s bid for Wenger too?
So that’s Podolski gone then. I’d be surprised if there was an actual injury today. Shame, we could have used him more wisely and got goals from him. So we will have less depth now up front…quite unbelievable I think
Well lé boss doesn’t seem to be prepared to play him either way.
If he’s not got a future with us then its as well to let him move on, providing of course we replace him with someone lé boss is prepared to give games to rather than go light in that area… Because we all know how likely _that_ is, right?
Surprised if it was an actual injury, at Arsenal? Which planet do you live on, mate?! 😀
Ha true mate…
Could have been worse. Santi might have been on his way to ,say, Atletico Madrid if Ozil or Wilshere had remained fit. It’s obvious there are certain players who will always be chosen ahead of others regardless of form(Is that why Cesc was rejected?). At least Poldi has a lot more ambition in him than to go the way of Arshavin, Chamakh or TGSTEL.
#heavysigh#anotheronebitesthedust#wengerfixthisbloodymessyoukeepputtingusinto
The two faced spaniard was rejected because he went ‘on strike’ to get away from us.
Best thing for the player sadly. Love Poldi but with such goal scoring potential keeping him on the bench every match it’s inevitable he will want out. At least we will have most of the window looking for a replacement.
Your wild optimism is a beacon of hope on this dark day.
Poldi will be sadly missed. Can’t help but think he could’ve made much more of an impact on our results this season than Wenger allowed him to.
He deserves to leave. Pity it didn’t work out but he still has a lot to offer another team.
Fuck sake, this is an awful year
And when you had posted you were only 19 hours and 15 minutes into it. #Pray4PetitsHandbag
Wenger is beginning to sound like a bumbling old fool. On Tuesday, he’s saying Inter are not serious and Poldi is going nowhere. Today he’s done a 180 degree turn.
Good luck Poldi, you’ve conducted yourself in a dignified manner and always had a smile for us. I don’t think I would have done the same if Sanogo was being selected ahead of me.
it made up their bid ,didn’t it ?
I feel like they have once again sell before buying
If they’re initial contact was the usual Italian level then they’d offer to take him on loan for free and pay 25% of his salary (it seems to be the Italian 1st approach tactic) which is a joke.
Well, this is the problem with squad depth! You cant keep them happy when they are not playing, you can play them for the sake of it! Podolski definitely was not good for starting the games but brilliant as a sub! Only regret is AW could have been used him more often just to keep him happy. I take the positives of his moving and hope that we will bring better players in for defence and midfield!
Well, this is the problem with squad depth! You cant keep good players happy when they are not playing, you can not play them for the sake of it! Podolski definitely was not good for starting the games but brilliant as a sub! Only regret is AW could have used him more often just to keep him happy. I take the positives of his moving and hope that we will bring better players in for defence and midfield!
How about a serious Inter bid for Wenger?!
How about a serious Inter bid for Wenger?!
There’s a echo in here?
To top it all off, Spuds have overtaken us in the table. Is there any chance of us getting a manager who can beat Cuntinho?
Yes we can get a manager who can beat cuntinho. Pocchi managed it today for the shitest team in London.
Get out Poldi, while you still can!
My theory is Poldi is what stands between us a a top top top top top Defensive player signing.
The clubs is still stingy as fuck
Maybe it’s Wenger who’s becoming the joke, (was going to go in depth as to why I wrote that statement, but I can’t even be arsed anymore), do we even look like challenging for the title, do we look getting to the champions league final, do we look like getting the successful years back….Not a chance.
After the departures of Poldi and Sanogo, I guess Wenger will now consider bringing in a CDM and a CB. I believe the reason why Podolski doesn’t get playing time is our lack of scoring first or conceding after a lead. We all know how Wenger doesn’t like destabilizing the team through substitutions.
I fail to understand how a manager supposedly as clever as Arsene Wenger is unable to use a clinical finisher like Poldi in a game where the opposition defence is parking their bus in front of their goal. I actually think Arsenes’ problem with Poldi is that he answers back and questions things. I also think that’s why we have no supposed leaders on the pitch, Arsene won’t tolerate them. I can accept when my team loses if they’ve put in a shift and come out second best, but I struggle to excuse the Laurel and Hardy defense that was… Read more »
Leadership on the pitch and airing your grievances in the media are two very different things.
Highly unprofessional stuff from Podolski. Can’t remember any other player storming out of training under Arsene Wenger. Wondering if the boss still has the same grip on things as in the past (with Rosicky unsettled too). Just a thought, no WengerOut crap…
Yeah, for sure.. How long have you been supporting the club again? Because I can recall similar situations occuring just a few years ago..
He never stormed out. He posted something on his instagram rubbishing those reports and instead said he was inside with the medical team the whole time.
All I ca say is… http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ-jvEd0pDw
This looks like Arshavin.II to me.
I’m no more qualified than the next arm-chair pundit, but playing an untested (and quite frankly, not very good) 21 year old ahead of a World Cup winning, thunderbolt-left-foot possessing, 120+ international appearance making German appears, on the face of it, absolutely unbelievable.
Bad example of how Wenger treats players he doesn’t believe are good enough.
Get out while you still can, Poldolski!
Too many so called Arsenal supporters have very short memories or perhaps you only started supporting the club since we’ve been at the Emirates. Wenger deserves more respect for all that he achieves.
another deluded fan. no doubt he deserves massive credit for what he has done, but that is in the past. a club like Arsenal shouldn’t settle for 4th season after season. the only reason i’m a bit hesitant on Wenger leaving is because i’m afraid we might be in a similar ‘post Ferguson’ situation like Utd are. but i have no doubt he is not good enough anymore.
What Arsene achieves on his budget is extraordinary. The fans that think he can overcome a £2 billion deficit to the Blueveau Riche are the deluded ones. Here’s the maths £1.2 billion + (0.8 billion spent on a stadium) = £2 billion. Wenger clearly has his faults but far fewer than any of the alternatives. he is our best option so support him.
Yes we should carry on supporting AW through thick and thin and be happy to now be a midtable team and stay that way for as long as he is still here!
Your definition of ‘mid table’ is curious. Top 16 in Europe 15 years running is hardly mid table.
@Jozzer
Are the WFB’s definition of success a 4th place every season? 4th place is just qualifying for the CL and most importantly failure to win and compete for league titles. It is vital for our economy to get 4th, but really.. A club like arsenal should be aiming higher than 4th every season. Do you realise how fucking unambitious that is?
if you had told me back in 1994 as I drove back from Paris having lost to Zaragoza (inc star signings Hartson & Helder) that 20 years later we would have; the best stadium, the best training centre, the most admired playing style, won the double twice, gone unbeaten in a season, been ever present in the top tier of European football and done this under our own steam whilst competing with teams fuelled with injections of £ billions then yes I would think that was wildly ambitious. I credit these achievements to Wenger Dein & Fizsman. Unfortunately we are… Read more »
Well said. I was at that game too with my dad & brother. Feel very lucky to have witnessed what happened in the Wenger era. Totally agree with the board not doing enough too.
@Jozzer. If you would have told me 10 years back that arsenal would decline from being one of the best teams in the world to not win anything for 10 years I would have laughed at you.. Sure, he had success for the first seasons at the football club. Surely, George Graham deserves a little bit of credit given that a lot of the defenders that he brought in was key for the team to be ‘complete’. Now we are inside a situation where we are not competing for titles, where our senile manager are unable to solve problems that… Read more »
The only solution to your conundrum (titles & cheap tickets) is to have a Billionaire sugar daddy, unfortunately they tend to be far too trigger happy for my liking. So let’s agree to disagree.
Kill me by your incompetence. Do you know how much money for instance Dortmund spent during their last few seasons? I can tell you that they sold for more than what they purchased players for. Yet they managed success in CL in modern times and won the Bündesliga at several times. Standard deluded answer will be: “Winning bündesliga is easy..” no it fucking isn’t, Bayern Münich is better than any team we have in our league. Atletico Madrid = won LA LIGA ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Managed to get in to a CL final in the same year.… Read more »
Podolski wasn’t available today? we had options to replace him. Though Wenger decides to play the inexperienced duo of Chambers and Coq together when Schneiderlin is suspended, instead of playing a WORLD CUP STAR in Campbell, and that is just not good enough from the manager. If we would have played a 4-3-3 with Coq as the DM, Rosicky and Cazorla as the CM’s and Alexis, Campbell and the Ox at the attack we would have been much more balanced and better going forward. But fuck do i know? Wenger’s decisions and tactics are constantly working brilliantly…
Campbell will probably go as well mate. Keeps saying he’s happy but doubt very much that he is.
I’ve been very surprised at the lack of faith that Wenger showed in Poldi. He doesn’t offer blistering pace but he’s very tidy on the ball, gets into good positions around the box and he scores goals.
He’s 29 now and definitely needs to be playing more, 2 minutes here and there simply isn’t enough. It always feels the same with our squad. A step forward and then backwards. If we sign a defender we’ll have weakened our forward line.
I doubt we bring in a replacement should Poldi go, which seems inevitable now.
Save yourself Poldi.
Get out while you can Joe! x)
It’s extremely disappointing to be starting the new year with a loss. I only hope that Arsenal`s injured players hurry back and help the team to that fourth place finish, because that is all we Arsenal fans can hope for at this time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znobkQ43BeE
Good Luck at Inter Milan Podolski! I wish you all the best! Top gunner. He is selling one of our best players (which will absolutely hit the ground running at inter.)
#WengerOut
Fuck my old brown boots…..why are we discussing a player leaving rather than a player joining ?
You are beginning to seriously piss me off Arsene !
We have been superb in the last 10 years at managing to cock up a very promising attempt at a title challenge but at least still sneak a top four place.
Never mind celebrating 6 points from three games like some of my mighty Gooners are saying, Wenger would, in tough times, put together 5 wins on the trot. It would shut up the media and dissenting fans and propel us upwards.
Not anymore.
Our season is pinned on crocked players coming back and the January transfer window.
Oh dear.
In the same day we lose and miss the chance to go top 4, Spuds beat Chelsea and go above us, and we lose Podolski who, although not a starter, is still useful given this squad’s injury record. *Sigh* Surely karma must turn. Surely we must win the CL now. Right? RIGHT?
All the best, Poldi.
Find your playing time and happiness somewhere else, and we are still stuck with the likes of Giroud and Welbeck.
Well to be fair both Giroud and Welbeck seems to have done more than Poldi when given game time. My disappointment is with us not being able to utilize him properly. Poldi has great finishing ability, and though not many single him out for this he does end up in good goal scoring positions regularly. However he’s too weak to lead the line by himself, and I wonder why we can’t try a front two with him and one of our bigger strikers. I can’t recall one single game where we played a front two with Poldi starting. And don’t… Read more »
Fuck
This is by far the most inefficient management of a talent by Wenger. Surely Poldi has his flaws, but for me it doesn’t justify such a minimal game time from a player who has proven he could score (and assists too). And to think back he gave all the chances in the world to younger Theo (who by that time only rely on pace, and lack everything else, including defending). Of course, there are others like Denilson etc who many of us here questions the game time given by the boss. But, i guess that’s a story for the future… Read more »
Jesus, such a pity it’s come to this. I’m sure I’m not the only one that was majorly excited when pod 1st came to the club, a proven goal scorer. The way it’s gone for him has been shit and he’s always carried him in a dignified manner and declared his love for the club (including saying hell would freeze over before he’d sign for spuds)anyways I think we are losing a class player and I wish him well.
#aha
#pissedoff
It’s a shame we couldn’t ever get the best out of Poldi as he has a beautiful left foot! One has to question why we never adapted our system on those rare occasions Poldi was our main “striker” but then again it seems even when chasing games we cannot adapt our system.
For his career a move away is the best choice. Good luck Lukas!
Cant blame poor pod would have ozil ahead of him for that left wing position if fit. Good luck in future pod.
I fail to understand what Wenger has against Pod.
Podolski is strong, can force his way through a defence and has a strong kick.
Yet, Wenger only gets him out once in a while towards the end of matches when the damage by the opposition has often already been done. Or worse, Wenger gets a younger, lesser-skilled player out instead.
Le Boss has lost le plot.
Not long now.