Podolski is certainly worth buying, He developes very well, peaks at age 29 in the red zone (91~93) and could eventually become a starter.
I like keeping most of my players from one country, and salary under 19000, so...here is my pathetic team with salary:
------------------Buffon900----------------
---------Bergomi750--------Squallaci570-------
Lahm560------------------------------Mathieu490
----------Cesc600---------Pirlo900------------
-Schuster900-----------------------Kaka1200---
-----------------Maradona1000-----------
--------Gilardino1060------------------------
On my reserves are:
GK Tie (created 512)CHN
CB Rane (created 500) ITA
CB Lee (created 580) CHN
SB Cassetti(created 600) ITA
SB Di Livio 300 ITA
DMF Mascherano 500 ARG
CMF Tardelli 700 ITA
RMF Mancini 720 BRA
SS Ronaldinho 1200 BRA (sadly my kaka is edited as kaka is my favorite player, so dinho can't make the 1st squad)
SS Zola 500 ITA
CF Rooney 800 ENG
CF Tavano 300 ITA
AMF Orlando 800 ITA (ML generated)
GK Curci 400 ITA
CF Park Chu Young 350 KOR
maybe more, total salary 17900
I'm impressed by my salary vs. player quality management...