There has been a lack of top German players in the Premier League until now, but will others follow as Lukas Podolski heads to Arsenal and Marko Marin moves to Chelsea?
The French have been here, en masse. The best Spanish players too. World-class Dutchmen? Of course. We've had the current Argentina captain (Javier Mascherano) and Italian geniuses (Gianfranco Zola et al). But the one thing the Premier League has lacked in its first 20 years is an influx of the best German players.
What is it with the German players? Why do they not like us? Is our money not good enough for them? Over the years, players such as Lothar Matthäus, Oliver Kahn, Matthias Sammer, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose and Philipp Lahm have all shunned the Premier League to stay in the Bundesliga, or moved to another country (and it surely has nothing to do with the German league being amazingly competitive, Glazer-less, entertaining and full of sold-out stadiums ...).
There have been a few good German players of course – Jürgen Klinsmann, Christian Ziege, Uwe Rösler, Didi Hamann, Michael Ballack, and Jens Lehmann spring to mind – but not enough, and not the very best. This season, two of the success stories have come from the Bundesliga (Newcastle's Papiss Cissé and Reading's Gylfi Sigurdsson), and next season two high-profile German players from the same league will be playing over here. First, Chelsea announced that they are signing Marko Marin from Werder Bremen and then, on Tuesday, Lukas Podolski confirmed that he is moving to Arsenal in the summer from Köln.
In Germany, "Poldi" is as high-profile as you get. He has, in may ways, been the darling of German football for a long time. He made his Bundesliga debut in 2003, yet he is still only 26 years old. At the 2006 World Cup – as a new, expansive Germany wooed the world with its free-flowing football – Podolski was one of the main heroes. He fought, he ran, he scored goals and, most importantly, he smiled a lot. A big, infectious smile.
A song was recorded in his honour and the future seemed bright. However, he struggled at Bayern Munich after moving there from Köln, in 2006, and his return to his home-town club has not been as smooth as anticipated. At one stage he was overlooked for the captaincy in favour of a player who hardly spoke German. That was hard. The striker, however, has learned a lot from his setbacks and comes to the Emirates Stadium a more mature man. In an interview with 11Freunde last year, Podolski spoke about what happened in Bavaria. "I gained a lot of experience and won some medals, but I was given too little playing time," he said. "Instead, whenever I did get on the pitch for 10 minutes a big thing was made of it. And if I didn't manage a shot on goal, everyone immediately said: 'Lukas has lost it.'
"If that carries on for a while then it is quite difficult for a footballer. Then you lose a little bit of enjoyment. When I see the current Bayern side I sometimes ask myself whether I couldn't have fitted in there, but that is in the past now."
Podolski is unlikely to make the same mistakes at Arsenal that he did at Bayern and he said this week that the Gunners "were the only club" he considered joining. He added: "I had other interesting offers but for me, it had to be a top club. When you look at Arsenal, with a fantastic manager, good environment and never any bad press surrounding the club; they are playing attractive football and have a great stadium with great fans."
The German team manager, Oliver Bierhoff, once said of the player: "If someone said to Lukas Podolski straight after an international game: 'Come on Poldi, let's go down to the park and play a bit of five-a-side' then he would be there straight away. That's how much he loves playing football."
For Arsenal this has the potential to be a superb transfer. If Arsène Wenger can make Podolski feel wanted and feel at home in London then the 26-year-old has the potential to be everything Gunners fans would want from a new forward. Even if Robin van Persie leaves.
Marin, like Podolski, was born outside Germany but moved to the country when he was two years old. The Werder Bremen winger and playmaker was born in what was then Yugoslavia and grew up with Dejan Savicevic as his idol. It shows. The 23-year-old is extremely skilful and has a wonderful eye for the game. He is every striker's dream team-mate and has recorded more than 10 assists in every season since his breakthrough at Borussia Mönchengladbach as an 18-year-old in 2007-08. That is an extraordinarily consistent statistic (although this season, mainly because of injuries, he is likely to miss out as he currently stands on five). It sounds promising for Chelsea. Will Fernando Torres finally rediscover his goalscoring form for a prolonged period of time next season, with the aid of Marin?
Marin has been called both "the king of dribbling" and "a diver". He can be inconsistent but no one can doubt his talent. And as far as tumbles in the box are concerned, he vehemently denies the allegations. "These accusations are rubbish. When have I ever been booked for diving? Never. I would be stupid if I'd fall over and therefore miss a chance to score a goal. There is no way I dive."
One thing is for sure, he is unlikely to challenge John Terry for the captaincy. In fairness, he does not even see himself as a leader. In an interview with ran.de this season, he explained: "I see other players as leaders, those who have more experience than I do. The way I see it I don't have to be someone who needs to be loud off the pitch. I try to take responsibility by the way I play instead."
Marin can play out on the wing or as a central playmaker. He has had more success in the former position and it will be interesting to see where Chelsea play him. Either way, he is likely to play with a smile on his face. "My father always says: 'Having fun is part of the Marin family'," he says. "Amid all the seriousness and the absolute will to win, I need a bit of fun in everything I do. A little joke here, a gag here, that is what I know from since I was little.
"Sometimes my father phones me up, just to tell me a joke. The telephone call lasts for about a minute. We both laugh, and then we hang up."
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