by Lewis Ambrose

After a long wait Arsenal finally look set to offload Lukas Podolski, with Turkish champions Galatasaray confirming their interest in the forward.

Podolski spent the second half of the season on loan with Serie A club Inter Milan, but had little success.

One goal in 17 appearances in the Italian flight put Inter – along with everyone else in Italy – off the idea of a permanent deal, and Arsenal have been waiting for offers for the German international.

Galtasaray manager Hamza Hamzaoglu recently confirmed that the club were weighing up a move for Podolski.

Speaking to NTV Sport Hamzaoglu said, “Podolski and (Andre) Gignac are both on our shortlist.”

Beyond

Things went beyond a shortlist on Monday, as reports began to emerge that the Turkish club had agreed a deal with Arsenal for the player.

Turkish newspaper Aksam said that the Turkish champions would pay £1.4M for Podolski, who has scored 48 goals in 125 appearances for Germany.

During his time at Arsenal Podolski has scored 31 in his 82 appearances since arriving in 2012 but has fallen way down the pecking order.

Two of those goals came in Istanbul against Galatsaray in the Champions League last season.

With one year left on a deal thought to be worth around £100,000 a week the club is likely to be happy to accept what would usually be seen as a small fee in order to get the German off their books.