Lukas Podolski is refusing to be broken by his critics.

The Arsenal forward, who has been roundly criticised since his arrival at Inter Milan on loan, came off the bench to score the equaliser for Germany on Wednesday night.

With his future far from certain many have been questioning his ability to continue on at the top level given his reluctance to work for his side, a notion that Joachim Low, the German team manager, ridiculed when he said he has “a feeling that people want to write him off, but he’s still alive and kicking and his record speaks for itself”.

Podolski himself has hit back, telling the Italian site Corriere dello Sport that he s far from his best before adding “should I just dig myself into the ground and give up playing football?

“Things keep getting carried over from the Italian media.”

It has been reported that Inter will not be taking up the option to purchase Poldi when his loan expires in the summer and with a year still left on is Arsenal contract, the Gunners will surely be looking to move him on when the window opens.

At this point, although stranger things have happened (Nicklas Bendtner) it would seem like his time as a Gunner has come to an end.

#aha