The German, who fell out of favour in London due to his blasé approach to defensive duties, is now struggling on loan at Inter Milan.

In an interview with German football magazine ‘Kicker’, Podolski has revealed that he will return to Arsenal when the loan spell ends. He also insists that there is no bad blood between him and anyone else at Emirates Stadium.

“As thing stand now, I will return to London in the summer,” said Podolski. “There will be talks in March or April because the season ends in May. I had a great time in London, even though the last half-year wasn’t satisfying from a sporting perspective.”

Despite the admittance that his last few months at Arsenal were far from ideal, Podolski definitely seemed to be laying down the groundwork for reconciliation at Arsenal.

“But it’s a fact that I never had problems there either with the club or with Arsene Wenger or even the fans. All I bemoaned was that once the move was sealed there were no farewell words from the club.”

Podolski also said he feels he is getting closer to his best, but the Italian media are not being quite so kind when talking about the German’s performances.

Inter Milan have left him out of their Europa League squad and, despite playing all 90 minutes in a 4-1 win over Atalanta at the weekend he was less than impressive.

Italian sports newspapers ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’ and ‘Tuttosport’ gave Podolski 5/10 ratings for his performance, suggesting that he is out of shape and posed no threat whatsoever.

Podolski does appear to look back on his time at Arsenal (so far) with a good attitude, even though his minutes were increasingly limited.

“In spite of that I had two-and-a-half nice years, from a sporting and from a personal perspective. I am proud to have ended Arsenal’s trophy drought with my goals in the FA Cup and to have won this trophy as a German in England.”

Arsenal have plenty of forward options and it would be very surprising to me if the club didn’t look to move him on in the summer.

However, with his large wages and ever-decreasing reputation, that may prove difficult.