According to my reading, he signed a four year contract with Cologne on 1 July 2009. So he will still have a year and a half on it in January 2012. I think that means there's a decent chance Cologne will look to hold onto him until summer, when he could be spruiked around to a larger number of clubs.

In 32 appearances he scored 13 goals and had 7 assists in the 2010-2011 Bundesliga. That's actually a reasonable return and suggests his renowned tendency to be a better player for Germany than for his club of the moment is somewhat exaggerated.

As a signing Podolski would show we had intent to fix our forward problems, but I don't think we can say with certainty that he would deliver the goods. Like most football fans I've seen him play a fair bit for Germany, and I know he's quick, aggressive and has a big shot on him. It's good that he's heading into the prime of his career. Mixed feelings about this possibility.

Mixed feelings, Burnsy? Would you rather have Podolski or Chamakh/Park/Gervinho in your line-up?
If we cannot afford the very best players in the world, then we should at least be filling in the gaps with 2nd tier players like Podolski, not Chamakh-it-up.

Watching this got me a bit excited, always liked Podolski and for some reason think he'd do okay under Wenger...

can he lead the line? always thought of him as more of a wide player or playing off the striker. for the right price, he could be a decent buy.

some of his recent quotes paint him as sort of a dick though... putting down his own teammates and his hometown club.

He'd be a good effort at a signing.

I'm just not sure we wouldn't be better off biting the bullet and spending £30m on a top drawer forward.

I'm not sure any three £10m players we could sign would improve us more at this point.

In January, who is realistically available? Are there any other Suarez's out there?

Well I was just going to mention Suarez. Many have said we should have bought him, but of course he's a complete cunt so Wenger probably wouldn't have gone for him regardless.

Tevez could maybe be had for £30m! But we definitely won't be in for him.

If Tevez would get his act together, he'd be the perfect signing. He'd be able to play at wide left or at the top when Robin's out. London is closer to Buenos Aires than Manchester, so he'd be making progress in his quest to get back to his baby mama.

I agree that as a player (if not as an employee of the club) he'd be an excellent signing.

But I guess it would be ruled out for all the other reasons, including FFP, his confused ownership, his personal behaviour, and City's desire not to release him to a top PL club.

we could probably afford about 1/3 of tevez.

if we're talking about old guys who can come in as a stopgap signing: di natale? pizarro? henry? anelka? kaka? huntelaar (not old, but moves like one)?

I was watching Chelsea today and thinking 'Would Wenger welcome Anelka back?"
For the completely impossible, we should tempt Chelsea with a 25m pound bid for Torres. His wages would be the only stumbling block, but I suspect Wenger can get him to be a player again.

podolski?

Anelka has been utterly awful.

For 10 million i'd bite off their arms. He's reminds me so much of Robin and can play a few positions.

torres is an interesting buy-low candidate

Caligula wrote:

I was watching Chelsea today and thinking 'Would Wenger welcome Anelka back?"
For the completely impossible, we should tempt Chelsea with a 25m pound bid for Torres. His wages would be the only stumbling block, but I suspect Wenger can get him to be a player again.

I don't really want Anelka, and I don't in fact think Wenger would sign him back.

Torres is an interesting call. Wenger would throw him on again and again for at least half a year, regardless of how we was actually doing. That level of backing might actually help him get past his issues.

Podolski fits in with the likes of Arteta, Mertesacker and Santos. He may not ever be world class but it's unlikely that the money spent on him will be wasted.

I don't think I've ever seen him play upfront on his own so I don't know if he's the natural replacement to RvP but that could be more down to Germany understandably preferring Klose.

Caligula wrote:

I was watching Chelsea today and thinking 'Would Wenger welcome Anelka back?"
For the completely impossible, we should tempt Chelsea with a 25m pound bid for Torres. His wages would be the only stumbling block, but I suspect Wenger can get him to be a player again.

Would you take Anelka back? He has very little to offer these days.

Chelsea aren't going to sell Torres to an English team for £25m. No chance. The embarrassment they'd suffer if they did that and Wenger got him back on track would be too much.

Podolski seems a very good option in that he can play up top or wide. How good is he up top though? People outside Arsenal would probably say the same about Theo, Gervinho and Shava.

He plays 9 and 10 for Cologne.