by Lee Hurley

Reports from Turkey claim that a representative from Galatasaray will travel to London next week to finalise a deal for Lukas Podolski.

Arsenal are said to be asking for €6m (£4.2m) for the German while Gala want to pay around €4m (£2.8m) given that he only has one year left on his current contract.

The Turkish side will offer Poldi a three-year deal and they are hopeful that he will accept a wage cut down to ‘just’ €3m (£41k per week) in order to facilitate the move and gain regular playing time which is something he has no hope of getting at Arsenal.

Gala also tried to sign Podolski in 2011 when he was still with FC Koln but are now keen to sign him to replace Goran Pandev. Pandev made just four appearances for the Turks after signing a two-year deal in 2014 and has agreed a move to Genoa after failing to get regular playing time.

Other reports in the British media claim that Galatasaray are trying to get the front man for as little as £1.5m although it’s hard to see Arsene Wenger agreeing to that sort of fee.