Lukas Podolski Has Improved from Bayern Munich Spell Believes Arsene Wenger

Saturday, 22nd September, 2012

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that striker Lukas Podolski has matured massively from his time at Bayern Munich.

Podolski joined the Bavarian giants in 2006 from 1.FC Koln, but failed to hit the heights expected of him and was criticised in some quarters for a perceived lack of maturity. He managed just 26 goals in over 100 games for Bayern Munich.

relatedNewsStory The Germany striker returned to his former club in 2009 and quickly rediscovered his scoring boots, prompting Wenger to make him an Arsenal player this summer.

The 27-year-old has enjoyed a good start to life with the Gunners and found the back of the net three times for his new club already.

Hopes are high at the Emirates Stadium that Podolski can go some way towards replacing the goals lost by the sale of Robin van Persie to Manchester United in the summer transfer window.

And Wenger feels he has the real deal, with a striker who has improved from his spell at Bayern Munich.

"I think sometimes when a player goes to a big club early, there are other players there that they cannot take their place from", the Frenchman told Arsenal’s official site.

"Maybe he was not ready and completely mature, I don’t know", he added.

"Now he is ready. He is 27, between that period [at Bayern] and now he has 50 or 60 more caps for Germany and a World Cup and a European Championship behind him.

"He has experience, he has 100 caps for Germany. You see that in a game, he is calm and when he gets a chance you think it will be a goal."

Wenger will be hoping that Podolski has his scoring boots on when he takes his Arsenal side north to face Manchester City tomorrow. Read a betting preview of Manchester City v Arsenal here.