What Does Lukas Podolski Loan Deal Mean for Arsenal?
By Josh Sippie
Lukas Podolski had been poised to leave Arsenal for the past couple of months. He has been stating and restating how he needs first team playing time now, given his age and his skill set, and few can argue with him.
But Arsene Wenger just could not find room in his lineup for the German.
Now, reports indicate that Podolski has a deal that’s all but said and done to send him to Inter Milan, as has been rumored. The only change? It’s a loan deal and nothing more.
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While we’ve seen loan deals turn into permanent transfers, this does come as a rather shocking move. Arsenal have plenty of options up front. If Podolski isn’t going to play now, what will have changed come next season when his loan spell is over? Hopefully nothing, because that would mean our attacking options have gotten weaker.
It may be more like an audition for Podolski but given a player of his veteran status and caliber, no audition should be necessary, the entire world knows what he’s capable of.
When Arsene Wenger was asked about Podolski heading to Inter Milan, he said (as reported by the Telegraph): “There’s nothing concrete. We have Mesut Ozil coming back at the beginning of January, so we have a lot of competition up front.”
In Wenger talk, that translates to about as close to a yes as we’re going to get prior to the deal actually happening.
As far as other implications, this being a loan deal lessens the likelihood of Arsenal grabbing an attacking player (just in case you thought that was an actual possibility). If Wenger says we have too many options, we have too many options.
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