If you can find someone other than Lukas Podolski who thinks he still has an Arsenal future, I’m gonna claim they’re on acid.

The German World Cup winner has fallen out of favour with the management and despite being given the chance to showcase his talents on the Serie A stage, he has failed to take it.

Now it is being claimed that Arsenal are willing to offer him and some money for Bayer Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu, a player who has been linked quite a lot this week, rumours we already took a look at.

Appearing in the Daily Express, the paper that once claimed as an EXCLUSIVE the news that Cesc Fabregas had agreed to join Manchester United, I would be incredibly dubious about the whole thing. That was before I saw that their reports were based on ones from Metro, the ones we already took apart in the link above so rather than this appearing to be an ongoing story it is just more circular reporting.

Hakan Calhanoglu of Leverkusen
LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY – MARCH 03: Hakan Calhanoglu of Leverkusen reacts during the round of 16 DFB Cup match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and 1. FC Kaiserlautern at BayArena on March 3, 2015 in Leverkusen, Germany. (Photo by Dennis Grombkowski/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Swap deals in football are rare although Leverkusen could well be a decent destination for Podolski who needs to reassess his own options and perhaps lower his expectations somewhat.

Calhaoglu is just 21 and comes with an alleged £20m price tag after only moving to Leverkusen from Hamburg last summer.

Arsenal, as you might expect, aren’t the only club to be interested in the player with Barca also said to be interested despite their transfer ban and the player himself is flattered to be linked with the Spanish side, telling the media

“There is no official offer but I was proud to hear of the transfer rumours.

“My agent will take over in transfer dealings, but right now I feel good at Leverkusen.”

So it would seem like he is open to a move, but will it be to Arsenal and will it be to replace Mikel Arteta as has been suggested? Unlikely given they both play very different position (Calhanoglu is a number 10 – why else would Arsenal be interested?).

His current contract runs until 2019 and with five goals and four assists in 24 Bundesliga appearances this season (10 and eight in 37 in all competitions), £20m might not even cut it.