Lukas Podolski thinks he could return to Arsenal, for some reason

Lukas Podolski wasn't playing much at Arsenal this fall, so after telling everyone in London who owns a tape recorder that he wanted to leave he got his wish in January, with a loan move to Inter Milan. On the face of things it seemed like a good move -- he'd get playing time, Serie A isn't particularly strong, and he'd be in a good position to play well and maybe earn back a shot at an Arsenal place.

Eight appearances, no goals, and one second-place on Gazzetta Dello Sport's list of worst January signings in Italy later, things look a little different. His new coach, Roberto Mancini, also wants him to do more to earn a place, but by some logic I'm not following that has led Podolski to say he's looking to return to Arsenal and actually play when his loan deal is up. There's no option to buy in his Inter loan, after all, not that it sounds like Mancini would actually want to exercise it if it was there.

I know that I have to do more. I work hard every day with the squad and the coaching staff to find my rhythm again and then I am certain that I will help the team with my experience.

...

I still have a year left on my [Arsenal] contract and always got along really well with the guys and the fans. But because I was not allowed to play a lot in my last half year, I needed to try something else.

No offense Lukas, but if you're not getting in the team at Inter, you're probably not going to get ahead of guys like Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck or even the seldom-used Theo Walcott. He's being "allowed to play" in Milan and not making anything of it, I'm not really sure what the point would be in bringing him back in any real way. Odds are that unless the next two months are different from the last two in a big way, not a lot's going to be changing for Podolski at Arsenal.