I truly cannot see the downside to this.
Point #1 - Arshavin (most likely), Chamakh (maybe) and Bendtner (almost definitely) and potentially Vela (probably) all leaving in the summer. Podolski transfer is already paid for with half of those sales.
Point #2 - Wildly established German international that has performed at a high level for Germany, and also admirably for club (was too young to go to Bayern when he did)
Point #3 - German... 'nuff said
Point #4 - Can play striker or on the wing, decently and has a cannon for a shot (and obviously can score goals)
Point #5 - Early signing is positive for 2 reasons. #1 - His price could have easily risen after the Euros as he ALWAYS tends to shine for Germany and #2 - as someone else pointed out, this signals some freakin' intent by the club to get quality players. This could be the signal RvP is looking for to sign his new damn contract
Point #6 - His wages wont really be that big of a deal.. I dont believe the reports of 140k p/w, i think the 100k p/w is more likely.. and that is doubling what he makes now (even after English taxes, he's making considerably more than he would be at Cologne). If the players mentioned above leave, all sorts of wages open up
Point #7 - Honestly, highway robbery for this guy (probably worth double if my next sentence wasn't the case), but since he's in the last year of his contract, this is a great deal. It also leaves us plenty of funds to sign a couple/few other players in the summer (Hazard anyone? another defender? Jovetic or someone else of that ilk? Experienced backup keeper?)
