Former Gunner Lukas Podolski has revealed that his current plan is to retire at the end of the season, after winning the Polish Cup with boyhood club Gornik Zabrze.
Former Arsenal striker Lukas Podolski is still playing first-tier football in Poland despite preparing to turn 41 in June, contracted to Gornik Zabrze until the end of the current campaign.
Podolski had previously stated that his final professional ambition was to win a major trophy with Gornik, having supported the team as a child.
That was an ambition he achieved over the weekend, as Gornik defeated Rakow Czestochowa in the Polish Cup final to lift the trophy for the first time in 54 years. It was their first silverware of any kind since 1988, when Podolski was just three years old.
Podolski had a brief but impactful influence on the final, coming off the bench in the 90th minute before getting opposition striker Jonatan Braut Brunes sent off in the 92nd minute. It was a terrible and petulant foul, and a very deserved red.
Now, with his final professional ambition achieved, is now the time for Podolski to call time on his playing career?
“The plan is to end my career,” Podolski confirmed after the game. “But maybe there will still be a surprise? I am leaving the door open. [In the past], sometimes my family came second, and I want to change course a bit.”
Podolski would retire with trophy medals from Germany, England, Turkey, Japan, and now finally Poland, as well as winning the World Cup with Germany in 2014.
The striker’s career isn’t quite done yet though, as Gornik have another four games to play in their league campaign, sitting six points off top spot with a game in hand.
After the weekend’s celebrations, attentions will now return to the title race.