Former Bayern coach says German International should have thought more about his January Milan-move.
Former Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes claims the former Köln and Bayern star made the wrong decision departing Arsenal for a loan spell in Milan with Internazionale.
The Polish-born forward opted to leave Arsenal in order to get more playing time as he had fallen out of favour under coach Arsene Wenger.
Having scored 46 goals in 81 appearances for Köln in his first spell, as well as 33 in 88 during his second spell, it is fair to say it simply hasn't worked out at any club but his boyhood club.
With just 15 goals in 71 games following his transfer to Bayern in 2006, and just 19 in 60 for Arsenal where he has been since 2012, Podolski has seen his role diminish to an impact substitute having not been able to grasp a place in the starting XI.
He moved on loan to Inter on January 5th of this year, and is yet to score in ten appearances, prompting some fans of the Nerazzurri to call for the early termination of his loan spell.
Heynckes, who worked with Podolski at Bayern in 2009, feels that both the player and his agents should have considered the decision more.
"Joining Inter was not the most clever decision from Lukas and his agents," Heynckes was quoted as saying by Kicker.
"I worked with him for five weeks at Bayern [before his return to Koln] and he did very well in all five games he played. The people at Bayern did not understand how he had become a completely different player all of a sudden.
"National team coach Joachim Löw has done an extraordinary job managing him like he has. But Podolski must step up his game again now. The coach can not keep protecting him all the time.”
The team he joined on loan, Inter, is a powerhouse in European football of course. However, it perhaps wasn't the best moment for ‘Poldi’ to move to the club, who are languishing in the mid-table regions of a division they won five times in a row from 2005-2010.
Currently sitting 10th and 10 points off the top five, Inter have had a poor season under returning coach Roberto Mancini, who was at the club from 2004-2008, winning three league titles, two Supercoppa and the Coppa Italia once.
Upon signing the German, Mancini praised Podolski’s "great experience and quality”.
“If you look back in history, Germans have always done superbly with Inter,” Mancini went on to add in a fans’ Q&A session.
Lukas, it appears, is the exception to the rule.
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