Borussia Dortmund Plan Shock Move for Arsenal Forward – Report

Borussia Dortmund are hoping that the lure of once again playing for a top team in Germany will be enough to convince Lukas Podolski to leave Arsenal this summer.

The 27 year old spent the vast majority of his career playing for Cologne and was only seriously in the hunt for major honours during his three year spell at Bayern Munich where he failed to live up to expectation.

Podolski did win the Bundesliga title with Bayern but his time at the club was never viewed as a huge success and he eventually returned to Cologne before sealing a move to Arsenal.

The Sun reports that Champions League finalists Dortmund are now keen to bring the forward back to Germany after various claims suggested Podolski feared for his future in north London after falling out of favour with Arsene Wenger.

The French boss had a reluctance to play Podolski in a central striker role and often preferred to use him as an impact substitute. The last time the German international played a full ninety minutes was in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool back in January.

Podolski still managed to score 11 Premier League goals last season and reports suggest that Dortmund are interested in adding more attacking talent after losing Mario Gotze to Bayern Munich.

Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp will have plenty of money to spend after receiving £31.5m for Gotze and they may feel that Arsenal would be willing to sell Podolski for a small profit on the £11m they spent last summer.

Podolski scored 18 league goals in his final season with Cologne, despite the club being relegated, and his international record is even more impressive with 46 goals in his 110 appearances.

With Dortmund aware that they will have to invest heavily in order to compete with Bayern Munich next season, they may well decide that Podolski can help fill the void left by the departure of Goetze.

However, they will have to convince Arsenal to part with the forward which may be far from straightforward as Wenger looks to improve his squad, rather than let an important first team player depart.