Former Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes believes Lukas Podolski made the wrong decision to leave Arsenal for Inter.
The Germany international opted to make the move in Serie A in the January transfer window in an attempt to get more playing time after failing to earn regular first-team football under Arsene Wenger.
He has been struggling to make an impact at Inter, though, and Heynckes – who worked with the attacker at Bayern in 2009 – feels Podolski and his agents should have given the transfer more thought before they made a decision.
“Joining Inter was not the most clever decision from Lukas and his agents,” Heynckes was quoted as saying by Kicker.
“I worked with him for five weeks at Bayern [before his return to Koln] and he did very well in all five games he played. The people at Bayern did not understand how he had become a completely different player all of a sudden.
“National team coach Joachim Low has done an extraordinary job managing him like he has.
“But Podolski must step up his game again now. The coach can not keep protecting him all the time.”