Mercato Madness: Podolski agent claims Napoli interest, don't get too worked up about it

It's a hard luck life to be Lukas Podolski, apparently. The veteran forward watched Germany win the World Cup from the bench, with the 29 year old playing only twice in the whole tournament. Now his time at Arsenal appears to be over, with the London club bringing in Alexis Sanchez and tweaking their tactics in such a way that it appears that playing time will be at a premium for the big German.

By all indications, Podolski has been given permission to leave Arsenal, and according to his agent, a nice stay in Italy will do quite nicely. Juventus, who are desperate to add a quality attacker, has been hard after the attacker this past couple of weeks, and apparently Roma have joined the fray as well.

Now, according to Podolski's agent, Napoli are expressed an informal interest as well. He claims that Napoli are "one of those [interested] clubs," though admits that there's been no official contact yet like Juventus have supposedly begun.

It's not a link that makes very much sense, in all honesty. Podolski is best cutting in from the left wing and is capable of playing a secondary role up front, but Napoli don't need help at either spot. Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne have the left locked down, and there's this guy named Gonzalo Higuain at striker. Even past Higuain, the combination of Michu and Duvan Zapata do just fine, and Napoli have a couple other players who can play at either spot in a pinch.

Frankly, Podolski's agent naming Napoli feels a lot like a leverage play, trying to force Juve to give his client a better offer. The fit in Naples isn't any better than his client has now, and might actually be worse. People might get excited about this rumor because Podolski is a big name, but when you look at how the big German has declined over the last few years and how he'd fit in to Napoli's side, there's not much reason to get worked up about this one.