Arsene Wenger has spoken out about Lukas Podolski’s future, and also mentioned about how he tried to sign Paul Pogba.
Pogba would be the perfect signing for Arsenal at the moment, but he would cost in excess of £40million. The best chance to sign him would have been when he left Manchester United on a free, that’s when Wenger wanted him.
“As a footballer, he [Pogba] has everything,” Wenger told Bein Sports.
“It is difficult to figure out what he doesn’t have.
“We [Arsenal] were interested in him. We tried to get him to come here. But he very quickly signed for Juventus.
Wenger continued to sing the midfielder’s praises, suggesting he could even win the best player in the world award: “He has the potential to win the Balon D’Or.”
When a player in England is approaching the end of their contract, foreign clubs are allowed to make contact with the player first. This meant that Juventus had a head start on signing Pogba before Wenger could make his move.
Pogba would have been a perfect signing, but we need to find a more realistic alternative now, perhaps William Carvalho?
On Podolski Wenger seemed to suggest the reported transfer fee for him is far too low.
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“It is not established at all that he will leave at Christmas,” Wenger told beIN Sports. “It is me who sets the price and [the reported deal] doesn’t correspond at all to his price.
“He is not for sale and there is no offer.
“Podolski plays a position where there is a big competition. He came very late from his holidays [after the World Cup in the summer], so he started after his team-mates and was not good physically.”
To me those quotes suggest Wenger would be willing to sell the German at the right price.
In my opinion, I don’t think we’d miss him too much. He still has obvious qualities but there are better players out there and he isn’t going to improve. Someone like Marco Reus would be the ideal replacement. What do you think? Should we keep Podolski? Comment below.