Lukas Podolski may have to wait a few more days before making his Inter Milan debut with Roberto Mancini revealing his transfer from Arsenal has not yet gone through.
The Inter Milan coach is still awaiting for the paperwork to be finalised on what is likely to be a loan deal until the end of the season for the World Cup winner, who has already passed his medical in Milan.
Even if the formalities of the deal are ironed out in time for him to feature on Tuesday night when Inter travel to Juventus, Mancini says Podolski would likely be on the substitutes' bench.
"We hope Lukas can help us in the next five months, but he's not trained with us yet and even if [the transfer] does go through in time, he will only be on the bench," Mancini said at a news conference on Monday.
"Podolski has got a great career behind him and he's a player who can give us a great hand."
An Inter debut for Podolski is therefore more likely to come on Sunday evening, when the Nerazzurri host Genoa.
He may not be the only new face to appear in that game either with Mancini admitting he would love to have another new signing available for that game, above all Bayern Munich's Xherdan Shaqiri.
"Shaqiri is another option for us but we don't know what will happen in the next ten days," Mancini said. "We want to take players who can play wide and behind the forwards and Shaqiri can fill those roles.
"He's a young player and certainly he would be an attractive option for us."