Lukas Podolski thinks Arsenal should look to Germany for their next managerial appointment, after learning of Arsene Wenger’s imminent departure.

Last Friday, the Arsenal boss announced he would be stepping down at the end of the season. The hunt for a replacement should be well underway by now, and Podolski threw his opinion into the mix at the weekend.

“I am of the opinion that Arsenal would be good for a German manager,” he told Sunday’s Morgenpost am Sonntag. “This is my feeling. The club has been relying on German know-how for several years now.”

Presumably the 32-year-old is referring to the fairly strong German contingent at the club right now. Per Mertesacker is the club’s captain, and will take over managing the academy next season. Mesut Özil is the star of the team, and Shkodran Mustafi is the most vocal member of the defence.

Maybe a German manager could help build on those key pieces of the Arsenal puzzle and improve the team.

Here are the German coaches who have been linked with Arsenal in recent weeks:

Julian Nagelsmann

Nagelsmann is only 30 years old, but already has a couple of years managing Hoffenheim behind him. According to the Daily Mail in March, Arsenal were keeping an eye on him this season.

The young German, who used to play for FC Augsburg II and 1860 Munich II over a decade ago, has only ever coached the Bundesliga team. Whilst he did help them finish in a Champions League qualifier spot for the first time in their history last term, he’s still really inexperienced.

What’s more, Nagelsmann has been referred to as a ‘mini-Mourinho’, which is relatively terrifying.

I don’t think he’s necessarily the most likely candidate on this list, since you’d expect Arsenal to go for someone a bit more experienced for this transition.

Then again, who would’ve guessed they’d go for Arsene Wenger 22 years ago? Ornstein points out the Nagelsmann knows Mislintat from their time in Germany, so we’ll have to wait and see how this one pans out.

Joachim Low

For the last 12 years, Low has been in charge of the German national team. The team have had a lot of success during that period, most notably winning the World Cup in 2014.

They also won the Confederations Cup in 2017, as well as finishing as runners up in the European Championship in 2008.

Their third-placed finishes in the World Cup and European Championships in 2010, 2012 and 2016 mean the country have finished in the top-three at the last five major international tournaments.

The main concern is that the 58-year-old would struggle to adapt to club management.

His last job as a club coach ended in 2004, and a massive amount has changed since then.

Plus, he was managing the likes of Austria Wien, Fenerbahce and VfB Stuttgart in those days. Not exactly the top teams in Europe.

Nonetheless, if Low can transfer his international success to Arsenal, he’d make a great appointment.

Thomas Tuchel

Tuchel has been out of a job since he left Borussia Dortmund last May and the 44-year-old has been linked with a host of jobs.

He hit the headlines in connection with Arsenal recently when claims from Germany said he had agreed to take over at Arsenal, despite there not being any vacancy in north London at the time.

Coveted by Bayern Munich he both wants the Bayern job and has turned it down in favour of Arsenal, depending on where you do your reading.

Despite Sven Mislintat saying he would have no problem working with Tuchel, the fact is the pair don’t like each other in the slightest and it’s hard to imagine them working together so soon after the rift that helped to bring an end to Tuchel’s time at Dortmund after he banned Mislintat from the training ground.

Brian Meyers, BvB expert, said that Tuchel would “be petty enough to ask Arsenal fire their new head scout as a condition of hiring him.” That is not a move that’s likely to go down well with the fans who have taken a quick shine to the head scout, who moved quickly and decisively upon arriving at Arsenal and landed a young Greek centreback, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and was reportedly key to convincing Arsene Wenger to go after Henrikh Mkhitaryan as part of the Alexis Sanchez deal.

Unfortunately, it seems like Tuchel is set for PSG, so Arsenal can cross him off their list.