Arsenal to rethink the keeper conundrum?

As far as I know, the Colombian international keeper David Ospina is still an Arsenal player, even though all of the Arsenal transfer rumours recently have been leading us to believe that Arsene Wenger was closing in on the Chelsea veteran Petr Cech and that it would be Wojciech Szczesny that was going to be the understudy to the Czech Republic star.

On Monday Talksport revealed that Ospina´s agent was in talks with the Turkish club Fenerbahce about the keeper completing a transfer there once his Copa America tournament was over, as Ospina himself confirmed.

The 26-year old said, “They [Fenerbahce] are dealing with my agent.

“At the moment the only thoughts I have are for Colombia. I will not betray my team.”

Not only has Ospina not betrayed Colombia, he was almost single handedly responsible for them pulling off a huge shock and knocking the favourites Argentina out of the tournament last night. A string of saves, including a double at point blank range from Aguero and then Messi helped Colombia make it to a penalty shoot out, which they nearly won in sudden death before Tevez finally sent Ospina the wrong way.

A Daily Mail report explains just what a stunning game he had and awarded him nine out of 10 and a clear Man of the Match award, so can you explain to me why the Gunners are dumping this fantastic keeper?

Unless he is absolutely desperate to leave, why not keep Ospina and let Szczesny go? They are about the same age and the Colombian would be ready to step in when Cech´s powers do start to wane or when he is injured or rested. The fact is that he was better than Shezzer for Arsenal last season and there is no reason to think that will change, so is it time for Wenger to rethink the keeper conundrum? If so he had better do it quickly before Ospina agrees a deal with Fenerbahce or some other lucky club…

Tags Cech ospina Szczesny

43 Comments

  1. After years and years of Wenger “needs to be ruthless” it looks as if loads of Gooners have gone all soft and sentimental. A couple of reaction saves should not de-rail any decision made. Maybe with Cech coming the simple fact of the matter is that Ospina is the one who wants to leave if he is back on the bench again – we all know Schezza is not interested in going anywhere.

    1. Ospina was exceptional in the World Cup and was again exceptional last night, and he has been very good for Arsenal the second half of the season as well. He is a first class GK.

      Cech is a World Class GK, probably one of the 2-3 best in the world and he is ours for 11m and he will be great for at least 3 years.

      Now think if Aguero’s contract was ending next year and the only city he wanted to come to was London and he was available for 25m. How fast would we get rid of Giroud or Welbeck?

      Ospina is miles better than Scez but we need 8 homegrown players in the squad next year and Ospina probably would nort want to play second fiddle for the next 2-3 years.

      Very sad to see such a quality player go but i feel it’s best for both sides.

      1. 8 homegrown players is not a requrement, its to limit non home grown to 17, but still heres 7 hg without shez

        martinez
        gibbs
        wilsh
        rambo
        theo
        ox

        idk if coq or silva come into the hg category

        1. There u go. Let’s keep him ffs. The guy is class!!!!
          Get him the cupS games. Get him a nice raise.

          1. just saying the way we are sidelining szcesny isn’t fair enough, I think we know the situation on ground that ospina will leave then we should show him some support and respect. he won the golden glove last two season and 2 or 3 mistakes doesn’t make you so bad. the way we are goading him is crazy. he isn’t a bad no 2. #SupportSzcesny

            1. The Golden Glove is a farcical award and depends on the defense in front of the keeper more than the keepers prowess in goal.
              When we look at shots saved Schez is way behind Cech and Ospina, in fact he is behind a lot of prem keepers.

              His attitude stinks, he makes numerous mistakes, he has flawed judgement and has had for years.
              Schez is 2 yrs older than Courtois and Schez will never be as good as him on Courtois’s worst day and Schez’s best.
              Not good enough, Wenger has, up to signing Ospina (and yes I inclkude Lehmann in that because he lost us the CL final through his stupidity), been terrible at choosing keepers.
              Be best if we could sell Schez and convince Ospina to go but it’s doubtful he will sit on the bench.

        2. Add Bellerin, Chambers, Welbeck and Gnabry and we really don’t need Sczezney in order to comply with the homegrown rule. I think it comes down to who Wenger thinks has the better mentality to be a back up. For me it’s Ospina.

      2. Agreed JB. I spend a lot of my time on here sticking up for some of our maligned players and I am not for one minute having a go at DO – mate, I am gutted it looks like he is going. In a perfect world I would keep him over WS but I am guessing he has wider ambitions at present than WS and recognises he can be a starting GK for most teams in Europe. Bottom line is if you stuck 100 world goalkeeping experts in a room I would be surprised if less than 90% of them would declare PC is a better all-round GK than DO – and even though there are some risks it is an £11M no-brainer. Has to happen whatever the fallout.

      3. Also, and now might not be the best time to say this, but has anyone else got just a little nagging doubt about Ospina – I mean if the rumours are true I am pretty surprised that Fenerbahce is the best he can do.

    2. Wenger said himself that he makes decisions after tournaments.
      Where is the sentimental stuff when objectively watching a game?
      If Ospina wants to leave then yeah what can we do. Although I D try to talk to him if I was wenger.
      He is only 26 and sowed nerves of steel in a big situation. Or is it that games v the big teams taht all fans yell at for a striker to win doesn’t count for keepers?
      Ospi a s btter the Wojo. I like Wojo but it’s objective. Se time tal would be to keep the longest servant.

      1. I don’t think many are suggesting that DO is not presently a better goalkeeper than WS – I sense a 75%-25% vote in favour of DO judging by the comments on here. But the question is more a practical one as to who would make the better No.2 GK as a willingness to accept that status is probably the most important factor because lets not all forget the precise reason why it looks why we are getting PC – because Mourinho of people couldn’t hang on to 2 top quality keepers. He is now looking at Rob Green for back-up – that is how much drop-off in quality he is looking at. The Courtois/Cech situation was never a sustainable one and I expect Mou knew it all along. PC/DO perhaps not so extreme – but still similar management problems.

        PC>DO>WS. DO wants first team slot. WS looks like he will bide his time as No.2. The solution is obvious but maybe unpalatable to some.

    3. Inotherwords!….The keeper Conundrum should be rethinked……….. Listen 2 me, I dn’t Care how much we all rate Cech….but i would gladly also have Ospina in the Team…….he was willing to play 2nd fiddle to Sczcesny for a time, i see no reason why he couldn’t do the same for a more experienced Cech…….plus, it ain’t a crime having two decent Keepers and a 3rd (Sczcesny) , is it?….. How bout us being serious in all competitions , so they can all feature?……how bout a Loan move for martinez (for experience and game time)?

      1. Mate, we getting PC precisely because Chelski couldn’t hold on to 2 top quality GKs – what makes you think it will be different for us. Having Schezza as 3rd choice would be nice in a perfect world but is looney tunes stuff in reality.

    4. I was never the guy to be most eager to buy a new keeper, as i thought (and still think) Ospina is the sh*t. Cech is better than Ospina, I won’t argue about that – but is the upgrade really worth the money? Ospina keeps impressing me for each match, where the disappointments are the exceptions to the rule. There are other places we need to reinforce before we buy Cech, in my opinion. I wouldn’t mind having both keepers and give them 50/50 of the matches, maybe prioritise Cech in the important matches where the keeper is more likely to be the matchwinner than the striker.

    5. I’m actually confused, really we should have focused on DM and striker and a defender. We are good in the goal keeping department..is Cech really that good???ospina does let in a soft goal every ten matches, but is cech that much better???I’m kind of confused.

  2. After years of Lacking a WC keeper, we get one now everyone moan. its clear he won’t sit on the bench so he chooses to leave.

    1. just like signing Messiah today, Giroud scores 5 goals in a match tomorrow. people will say we don’t need messi

    2. No one is moaning g about getting a top keeper. At least not me.
      I am moaning about a top keeper leaving cause of home grown BS cause we have many home grown.

  3. If DO does not mind being No.2 then keep him and loose WS.

    We will then have the best two keepers in our squad in the PL and will be better armed to compete on all fronts,

  4. Would definitely prefer to have ospina over szczesny but i dont think he will stay to sit on bench, its the same reason cech left chelsea for us. Shez on the other hand has no such demands and is ready to play second fiddle to cech and fight for the no.1 spot

    1. Che ch was benched by a kid. Ospina would be bebenched by an adult. If I am guitarist in am band and they tell me all the leads wold be done by Clapton is not the same as if they say all the leads will be executed by the next hot shot

  5. To be short, we are facing the problem chelsea faced, ie having two quality keepers fighting to be no. 1. One wont be content with being second and thus will want to move and play 1st team football.

    Also, imagine the BS of the notion of having two quality players for each position. this is what happens.

    1. Not sure why you get a thumbs down there Darwin – the two “equal quality options” for every position on the field is biggest pile of b***s**t ever perpetrated on us armchair punters. The Chelsea GK situation was a real rarity – 2 genuine WC players fighting for one position. Just list out Barca’s or Chelsea’s or Bayern’s or Real’s second teams and all becomes clear. That is why guys like Welbeck and Arteta get so much stick on here – they are judged as 1st team starters and not as back-up in a 25-30 man squad.

  6. Ospina leaving is his decision and nobody should be blame, cos U dont expect us to keep him to be on the bench.

    My only fear is: God help Us if Cech turns out to be a flop at the Emirates. That means we have lost Ospina for nothing.

    Keep the faith.

  7. it simple loan aspina out or better still put a buy back clause in his contract when selling it, u never can tell cech might still floop in time to come, ospina is too raw to let go easly, and seszney i bet u he is a good gk selling him off now might come back to hurt us in future cus he has a lot to learn

  8. Check this out… Got this from whoscored.com. Last 4 seasons perfomance. Cech | Szczesny | Ospina Apps – 182(1) | 132 | 182 Clean sheets – 76 | 48 | 62 Saves p/g – 2.6 | 2.7 | 3.1 Save success – 73% | 69.5% | 72.6% Goals conceded p/g – 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.1 Crosses claimed – 296 | 167 | 351 Punches – 106 | 79 | 142 Ratings – 6.81 | 6.73 | 6.83. Despite the fact that Ospina is the shortest, he has claimed more crosses and had more punche. I’d say we loan Szczesny out and keep Ospina.

    1. I saw those zhord – not sure what to make of them but I am pretty sure Cech has had a whole lot less crosses to deal with at Chelsea than Ospina had at Nice (and Arsenal).

  9. okeydokey so , everybody on here is talking about cech displacing ospina . have we signed cech yet ?. am i missing out on something here . i know i am old, and i am slow , but , until the helmet signs on the dotted line then there could be a few people on here left with egg on their faces .i would love to see him come and play for us , what a great addition .

  10. Will Isaac Hayden be included in the Arsenal 25 man team for next season to be submitted to the FA? Petr Cech is about to arrive to make the increased by 2. Assuming Arsenal will sell Podolski and Campbell to make rooms for Cech and the young cb Hayden, who and who are likely to leave Arsenal if the Boss goes ahead to sign a LB, DM & a RW as I have been agitating for? If the Boss will make these 3 signings, I think he will have to close his eyes to allow 3 more Gunners from his current 25 man team leave the club to make rooms for the 5 other ones to come into the 25 man team. Szczesny successfully kept the goal for us from the 3rd round to the final of the FA Cup last season and we won the Cup. And he was the Gunners no.1 before he fumbled at Southampton. Ospina was in top form for Arsenal since he took the baton from Szczesny as he ran the race well to pick a bronze medal for us last season. And he has shown in Chile that he is still in that top form. Both Szczesny and Ospina deserve to be at Arsenal next season despite the coming of Petr Cech. Arsenal’s next season cannot be ultrasound to know whether she will deliver a male, female, twins, triplets, quadruplets child or children for us. And we can’t know what state of goalkeeping form Cech will put in for us. Arsenal are signing Cech on optimism and hopes. And that shouldn’t make us to cast away any of our would supposedly be 2nd & 3nd choise goalkeepers to Petr Cech. The Boss must assigned competitions to our duo keepers of Ospina & Szczesny to star-in to prevent them from redundancy. Cech should not be overplayed next season to avoid him becoming fatigued and starts conceding goals unecessarily.

  11. Opsina is the best for 90 minutes, not good in penalties. He is too agile and faster than anyone else to react

  12. Will Isaac Hayden be included in the Arsenal 25 man team for next season to be submitted to the FA? Petr Cech is about to arrive to make the numbers go up by 2. Assuming Arsenal will sell Podolski and Campbell to make rooms for Cech and the young CB Hayden, who and who are likely to leave Arsenal if the Boss goes ahead to sign a LB, DM & a RW as I have been agitating for? If the Boss will make these 3 signings, I think he will have to close his eyes to allow 3 more Gunners from his current 25 man team leave the club to make rooms for the 5 other ones to come-in to his 25 man team. Szczesny successfully kept the goal for us from the 3rd round to the final of the FA Cup last season as we won the Cup. And he was the Gunners no.1 before he fumbled at Southampton. Ospina was in top form for Arsenal since he took the baton from Szczesny to run the race he picked a bronze medal for us. And he has shown in Chile that he is still in that top form. Both Szczesny and Ospina deserve to be at Arsenal next season despite the coming of Petr Cech. Arsenal’s next season cannot be ultrasound to know whether she will deliver a male, a female, twins, triplets, quadruplets child or children for us. And we can’t know what state of goalkeeping form Cech will put in for us when he starts. Arsenal are signing Cech on optimism and hopes. And that shouldn’t make us to cast away any of our would supposedly be 2nd & 3rd choise goalkeepers to Petr Cech. The Boss must assigne adequate competitions to our duo keepers of Ospina & Szczesny to star-in next season to prevent them from redundancy. Cech should not be overplayed next season to avoid him becoming fatigued and starts conceding goals unecessarily.

  13. its very simple.
    -Cech>Ospina, nothing to think about there.
    -Ospina doesnt want to be No.2 after just winning No1. spot, so he’s leaving
    -Fans are reactionary and forget how good Szczesny was 13/14 season. Szcz was our GK during the part of the season when we had no CDM and no Koscielny. Ospina played when our defence was cohesive again.
    -Szczesny still has potential and its disgraceful that fans are putting him down constantly.

  14. I say we pull out from the Cech deal and use those funds to bring in players that are needed…we don’t really need a gk when we’ve got top class DO. Something in my guts tells me Mr Cech will be a massive flop…Wenger take note!

  15. It is lunacy in the extreme to keep Szczesny and sell Ospina. Ospina is a star at international level and Szczesny is a joke!

    For what it’s worth, I cannot for the life of me work out what this fascination for Cech is all about. He is a 33 year old that has seen better days.

    Chelsea are putting one over on us in selling us a player whose use by date expired ages ago and for a ridiculously high price. We will end up with a geriatric who’s washed up and the clown Szczesny and we’ll sell the best ‘keeper we’ve had in nearly a decade: it’s farcical!

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors