The former Arsenal forward is understood to be considering legal action after the Breitbart website used a photo of him to illustrate a story on illegal immigration.
The US far-right outlet showed a picture of Mr Podolski on a jet-ski on an article with the headline ‘Spanish police crack gang moving migrants on jet-skis’.
After a barrage of criticism, the photo was changed and the editor issued a clarification under the piece: “A previous version of this story included an image of Lukas Podolski on a jet ski. This image appeared as an illustration of a person on a jet ski.
“Breitbart London wishes to apologise to Mr Podolski. There is no evidence Mr Podolski is either a migrant gang member, nor being human trafficked. We wish Mr Podolski well in his recently announced international retirement.”
Mr Podolski, 32, played his final international game for Germany in March this year against England, scoring the winning goal and beating the side 1-0.
He was signed by Japan's Vissel Kobe in June.
Share
