Lukas Podolski has ruled out a January transfer to Arsenal. Kon Schramm, the representative of the Köln striker, told the Guardian that a move in the Bundesliga winter break is "all but impossible", citing the player's reluctance to endanger his chances of featuring for Germany in the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine this year. "Köln has priority right now; we have time [for everything else] in the summer," said Schramm.

Despite the Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger's protestations to the contrary, there has been contact with the Polish-born forward in recent weeks. But Podolski, who has scored 14 goals in 16 league games this season, is wary of trading his automatic starting place for a new beginning in the Premier League at this stage of the campaign, especially in the light of Robin van Persie's outstanding form.

The left-footed Podolski has 95 caps and has been a mainstay for the German national team since 2004, but he is faced with increasing competition from emerging talent such as Mario Götze (Dortmund) and Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach).

While Gervinho's absence for the Africa Cup of Nations would provide the 26-year-old Podolski with an opportunity to play wide left for Arsenal, in the same role he has successfully filled for Joachim Löw's team in recent years, the player is much happier as a centre-forward. He is also very settled at his hometown club. On Monday, he revealed to Bild he was putting off planned nasal surgery so as not to miss five days of training.

A possible deal is further complicated by Köln's stance. The 10th-placed club are €31m (£25.8m) in debt but will not accept Arsenal's mooted offer of £10m due to the player's importance for the team and his contractual situation. A third of Podolski's transfer rights are held by the club sponsor SolarWorld, which partly financed his €10m return from Bayern Munich in 2009. Köln would thus only receive £6.6m, too meagre a return for the political and sporting fallout of selling their prize asset half-way through the season.

It would take an offer closer to €20m to make the economic case for his departure more compelling, according to a club source. But Köln will be forced to accept lower offers in the summer if Podolski refuses to extend his existing contract beyond 2013.