Has he become Arsenal’s new Arshavin?

Has Lukas Podolski become the new Andrey Arshavin?

Arshavin arrived at Arsenal from Zenit St Petersburg in February 2009 following an impressive European Championship campaign with Russia. Much was expected of the dynamic forward and, to his credit, the now 32-year-old delivered for the remainder of the 2008/09 season for the Gunners, contributing six goals and nine assists in 15 appearances in all competitions.

His first full season as an Arsenal player saw him start regularly for Arsene Wenger’s side. He managed to start 36 of his 52 appearances that season, but only managed to net 10 goals and created 17 – it wasn’t a bad return but many expected better from a player who was on top his game at this point of his career.

In summer 2011, Wenger signed Gervinho from Lille to offer healthy competition to the little Russian. But little did he know that this move proved to be the beginning of the end for Arshavin at Arsenal. That season however, Andrey wasn’t receiving as much starts and opportunities as he did in previous ones – out of his 26 appearances in all competitions, he only managed to start 13 of them and was so out-of-favour at the time that it prompted Wenger to send the forward back to Zenit on loan over the January period for the remainder of the campaign.

Arshavin returned to the club for the start of the 2012-13 season but wasn’t able to find the form which brought him to Arsenal initially. He was overlooked by Wenger, starting just two games from the 11 he featured in that term, and left the club on a free at the end of the season.

From such a promising start to life at Arsenal, Arshavin eventually became the player who lost his confidence, was frozen out and eventually moved on by Wenger. And it looks like Podolski is following in Arshavin’s footsteps did.

Podolski signed for the Gunners in summer 2012 from Cologne, again, like Arshavin, with high expectations having performed well for club and country beforehand.

The German forward started off his Arsenal career brightly, quickly becoming a fan favourite and establishing himself as a starter for Wenger’s side by making 42 appearances in all competitions (33 as a starter), contributing 16 goals and 11 assists along the way.

This season, however, the 28-year-old has found himself spending more time on the bench than on the pitch. He did struggle with injuries in the early part of the campaign but since his return to fitness before Christmas last year, Podolski has started just one game – this coming against Coventry City in the FA Cup a month ago – out of a possible 12, playing just 201 minutes from 1080 available. His lack of game time raised questions among fans whether he will remain at the club for much longer and was even linked with a move away from the Emirates during the January transfer window.

It’s unknown whether Podolski and Wenger have had a feud behind closed doors, but for some reason, despite Olivier Giroud’s poor run of form as of late, the German international just can’t seem to get a look in.

If things do not change for the better for Podolski from now until the end of the season then I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hand in a transfer request and eventually leave the club during the summer.

So having taken that all in, do you reckon Podolski has become Arsenal’s new Arshavin?

Let us know what you think below