What does Poldi see in the crystal ball? Arsenal.
The much anticipated on and then off and then on again transfer finally takes place as Lukas Podolksi is set to join the Gunners this summer on a £10.9m transfer move. Bild had gotten scent of the striker’s desire to move from Koln, his present club, which crystallized in the last few days. He also moves straight into the top echelons of Arsenal wage earners with a salary of £100,000 a week for the next four years which doubles what he gets at Koln.
To accommodate the nearly £5m annual salary means one thing. Arsenal is sure to show the door to some unproductive performers this summer.
In return Arsenal get a guaranteed sharpshooter who loves to operate on the wings. The Koln striker has been in stunning form this season in a relegation bound team scoring 16 goals. At 26 years of age, Podolski is a veteran of the Mannschaft with a flourishing international career.
The timing is intriguing but there is no doubt that the deal has a lot to do with the sticky situation of keeping RVP in an Arsenal jersey for the foreseeable future. There is going to be some hard bargaining in summer and in some ways RVP’s concerns mirror that of Cesc Fabregas before he departed for Barca which centred around essential additions to the team necessary to regain past glory.
Fabregas had on occasion alluded to the enormous pressure and loneliness of being the conduit to Arsenal’s success as well as its emotional leader. That is exactly the spot which RVP finds himself in. Having someone of the calibre of Podolksi to partner RVP will go a long way in convincing the captain that Arsenal want to get back to the business of attaining silverware.
Podolksi’s presence will also be a big reassurance to those bemoaning the lack of attacking quality on display on the Arsenal bench. The dispiriting sight of Marouane Chamakh and Park Chu Young trotting out for the remaining minutes in the AC Milan match underscores Wenger’s waning confidence in those players. Chamakh should be on his way out this summer. There is a possibility that some of the loan signings playing elsewhere like Nicklas Bendtner will become permanent.
The German’s presence might also spur RVP to achieve even greater heights if that were possible as he sees healthy competition to challenge him. As for Poldi, he gets a pass happy team that will help pad his goalscoring numbers and keep him in the spotlight in international competition.
Per Mertesacker, the BFG, whose text messages seem to have convinced Poldi about London and the Emirates had this to say, “Poldi is a perfect fit for the team as he’s shown in front of goal for Koln. He has the real qualities of a striker.”
Welcome aboard Poldi, here is to a long and fruitful Arsenal career!