adminLUKAS PODOLSKI has hinted he may leave Arsenal before his contract expires in 2016 because he is not playing regularly enough.
“I’m a full-blooded player, a street player and I love competition,” the 29-year-old told RTL television.“If I don’t have this competition every weekend then a change must occur.”
Podolski, who has scored 47 goals for Germany in 118 internationals, joined the London club in 2012.
He was not involved in the opening four matches of the season following Germany’s successful World Cup in Brazil, and has been an unused substitute four times in Arsenal’s last eight matches.
He has come on for the last few minutes of the Premier League games against Leicester City and Aston Villa and the Champions League defeat at Borussia Dortmund and has only played an entire match once — Arsenal’s 2-1 home defeat against Southampton in the Capital One Cup last week.
He did not feature in Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday where again he was an unused substitute and has yet to find the net this season.
“We’ll have to see. But it’s certainly something one has to think about,” he said when asked if he would see out his deal with the club for whom he has scored 28 goals in 73 appearances.
As far as his career with Germany is concerned, Podolski said it was not the first time he has seen little action at club level but kept his place in the squad.
Podolski made only two appearances for Germany in Brazil — playing for the last eight minutes against Portugal in their opening group match and the first half of their last group game against the US, and was an unused substitute in the final when they beat Argentina.
“I’ve been with Germany a long time and have gone through phases where I did not play a lot at club level but was convincing with the national team. That’s no problem,” he said. — The Guardian
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