“I am happy that [he] has left… he got praised as a great runner if he ever got back to defend three times in a game. If [he] fails to train properly twice or three times he won’t get games.”
– Berti Vogts, former Coach of Germany, on Lukas Podolski when he left Köln for Arsenal
We’ve been here before.
A strong attacking showing for one’s country in an International tournament playing centrally followed by a move to the Arsenal – only to be shoved out on the wing to suffer a death found out by a lack of defending; eventually tossed aside and moved on with little fanfare.
“I am Gooner” decried Andrey Arshavin after what was likely the most protracted signing in Premier League history. It took a full day to confirm it, but in the January window of 2009 – the mercurial Russian was signed in, what was then, a club record deal.
