According to the Mirror, Lukas Podolski has claimed that he feels he ‘deserved’ more ‘minutes’ during his time with Arsenal in an interview with FourFourTwo.
Podolski believes that he ‘performed well’ during his time in north London and he seems disappointed that he wasn’t given a more important role with the team.
The Germany international was on Arsenal’s books for three years, the wide forward managed to bag 31 goals and register 17 assists from 82 appearances for the Gunners.
Podolski won the FA Cup with the north London outfit at the end of the 2013/14 season.
Here’s what Podolski had to say on his time with the Gunners:
“I didn’t get enough game time; I felt that I performed well and didn’t get the minutes I deserved,”
“On the other hand, if you look at my stats, I played in about 80 matches and was directly involved in a lot of goals by scoring or assisting.”
Whilst Podolski was disappointed with his limited role with the Gunners, the forward showed his class with some lovely praise for Arsene Wenger:
“He was a great manager and I really like him as a person, too,”
“He was like a grandpa: a very intelligent man, who was nice to talk to. He could speak lots of languages and never yelled.”
“He was Arsenal: he created everything. Arsene created a style of playing. He was the man who oversaw the club’s move to the Emirates Stadium from Highbury, and won so many trophies during his 22 years there.”
“I’d be fascinated to see how he would have done in charge of another team.”
The ace now plays for Turkish side Antalyaspor, Podolski has shown no signs of slowing down at the age of 34, with the attacker contributing two goals and two assists from just six appearances this season.
Podolski is certainly one of Arsenal’s most underrated players in the club’s recent history, the attacker had a real eye for goal – striking the ball with a level of power and accuracy that doesn’t come across very often.
Do you think that Podolski deserved to play a more crucial role for the Gunners?