The relationship between German striker Lukas Podolski and his hometown club Cologne seem to have hit rock bottom after the German club accused Podolski of making unauthorised comments against his club.

Cologne decided to sign Lukas Podolski a few seasons ago after the German striker said that he was not comfortable at Bayern Munich. Initially, the return to his hometown club went extremely well for the German striker, but the relationship has turned sour of late. Lukas Podolski recently gave an interview in a magazine, in which he appeared to suggest that Cologne have made false promises in order to complete his return from Bayern Munich.

Lukas Podolski moved from Bayern Munich nearly 3 seasons ago. He has been largely ineffective over the last couple of months. It has been rumoured that Podolski is looking for a move away from Cologne due to the fact that his hometown club have been unable to match his ambitions. In a recent interview, Podolski said that Cologne had made promises when they were trying to sign him from Bayern Munich. None of the promises have been met and that he would like to leave the club for the benefit of his career.

“Of course such a high-profile player has every right to speak out publicly, but we are surprised about the timing and the content of an interview on the day in which we had a very important game against Hamburg. The interview had not been agreed with us, nor had we authorised its publication,” Cologne general manager Claus Horstmann said. It has also been reported that Lukas Podolski will be fined by Cologne due to the unauthorised remarks he made against the club. Cologne are currently in the 12th position in the table with very little chance to make it into the Champions League.