Germany forward Lukas Podolski has revealed he once turned down the chance to join Manchester City.
35-year-old Podolski currently finds himself at Süper Lig side Antalyaspor, having joined them on a free transfer from Vissel Kobe in January.
The Turkish side are the eighth team that the German has played for, having enjoyed spells in Germany, England, Italy and Japan during a varied career.
His time in the Premier League was spent with Arsenal, who he joined in a £13.5m deal from 1. FC Köln in 2012 and went on to make 82 appearances for, scoring 31 goals and registering 17 assists in that time.
“I met Manchester City once in Munich,” he told the Einfach mal Luppen podcast, relayed by FussballTransfers.
“Back then (Sven-Göran) Eriksson was the trainer, and we had talks.
“That was very interesting, but I made up my mind that I want to go back to Cologne.”
Returning to Köln certainly turned out to be the smart move for Podolski, who would go on to score thirty-five goals in the following three seasons.
That eventually earned him his move to Arsenal, a switch that worked out well for both parties really.
Still, it’s interesting to think about what may have been at Manchester City given their history of signing forwards down the years, and whether Podolski would have joined the list of successes or failures is something we’ll never know.
