When Lukas Podolski joined Serie A giants Inter Milan in the January transfer window, it seemed like his future at Arsenal is almost as good as over.
The German international had struggled to get regular games this season for the Gunners, as he dropped down the pecking orders at the club.
Wenger has an avalanche of attacking midfielders and forwards at disposal and especially with the arrival of Alexis Sanchez in summer, Podolski saw his game time getting limited.
He has however failed to recapture his old form for Inter as well, failing to net a single goal in six appearances.
Inter left out Podolski from their Europa League squad and instead they have opted to award a spare to Xherdan Shaqiri. Podolski however insisted that he knew he would not be in the squad.
“I am still the Lukas Podolski who is living his dream. And I don’t let anyone take that away from me,” he said.
“That the critics fire too fast was also revealed when I was proclaimed a loser after not making the Europa League squad. But that was part of the contract talks, and was also openly communicated at an early stage,” he said.
So, what future lies ahead of him?
Podolski expects to return to London in the summer and hold talks with Arsenal hierarchy to know about his future.
“As thing stand now, I will return to London in the summer,” he said in an interview with Kicker as quoted by ESPN. “There will be talks in March or April because the season ends in May.
“I had a great time in London, even though the last half-year wasn’t satisfying from a sporting perspective. But it’s a fact that I never had problems there neither with the club, nor with Arsene Wenger, or even the fans. All I bemoaned was that once the move was sealed there were no farewell words from the club.
“But in spite of that I had two-and-a-half nice years, from a sporting and from a personal perspective. I am proud to have ended Arsenal’s trophy drought with my goals in the FA Cup and to have won this trophy as a German in England.”
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