Keep or sell – Wojciech Szczesny by PR
Our Polish keeper Wojciech Szczesny has been at Arsenal for ten years since becoming a youth player at the age of 16. He was given a professional contract three years later and made his League Cup debut on the 22nd September 2009, keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 home win against West Brom. After that game Wenger announced that the Pole would be a future Number One at the club.
And so it proved with the Pole going on to make 132 appearances for Arsenal and sharing the Golden Glove trophy with Petr Cech in 2013/14 after keeping 16 clean sheets. But the following season he was considered to be not quite good enough for the first team and after a couple of basic mistakes against Southampton on New Years Day it appeared that Wenger had had enough of his antics and he was dropped in favour of David Ospina. With perfect bad timing Szczesny was also caught smoking in the showers after the game and was given a massive fine and left out in the cold.
Obviously once Petr Cech arrived it was certain that Szczesny’s first team place was nonexistent, especially as Ospina had performed so admirably when he was given his chance to impress.
He was sent on loan to Roma this season, where he seems to have gained the trust of the Italians and now seems confirmed as first choice for this season, but Roma have already lined up a replacement for next season and it looks like the Polish international will be returning to the Emirates this summer.
There are rumours that Roma want to extend his loan but Szczesny himself, as usual, proclaims himself as an Arsenal player through and through and is willing to return and fight for his place. It is possible that David Ospina will be moving on at the end of this campaign, in which case we could bring Szczesny back as Petr Cech’s understudy.
But do Arsenal fans want him back?
Peter
Sell him we have Cech who at 33 can still man the goal posts for another 6 seasons until he’s 40!
Just sell him and jack Wiltshire, they got the same vice :smoking ,alcohol, and they are massively overrated and bad influence on each there.
Totally disagree. If you can honestly say you never made a mistake when you were 22, perhaps you can throw stones, but I’d be willing to bet that is not the case.
Szczesny still has big potential, especially if he learns from Petr Cech for the next few years, and has a great opportunity to step up to number 1 in a few years when Cech is finished (with 200+ clean sheets under his belt).
Do not cast off Szczesny simply because he made a couple mistakes. If he comes back and continues to make poor disciplinary decisions and does not reach his potential, we can talk about selling, but he has been very loyal to Arsenal and is already a golden glove winner. Lets show him a bit of faith.
Sell Ospina in the summer, keep Szczesny for a year behind Cech. Assess properly if he made progression and decide whether to sell him in 2017 or keep him to succeed Cech. Emi Martinez should be ready to be second keeper (at least) by that time so it’s not a bad option to say goodpye to Wojciech next year.
If Szczesny has a problem, iit’s ‘over confidence’ – that aside, he’s been a good Goalkeeper for Arsenal,in a period when the defence in front of him had more holes than a Tetley Tea Bag. This season long loan to Roma will probably do him the World of Good. Ospina is a good Goalkeeper, but he seems unsettled, not happy being No2 behind Petr, and seems to be itching for a Transfer.
If Szczesny, is willing to be Cech’s understudy for the next 4+ years at least, learning from him in the process, Szczesny could yet turn out to be a great Goalie.
I have been saying this for a while Sell both Ospina and Szczesny. Szczesny beacsue tbh he is not good enough as even a back up keeper in my opinion and Ospina because he will not be happy has a back up keeper.
I say we should sign Simone Scuffet (age: 19), Gianluigi Donnarumma (age 16) or Mattia Perinis (age: 23). All three are prospects for the future and training with Cech will only make them that much more better.
As Cech has proven haven a great keeper in the sticks makes a world of difference. We need tp be cut throat at times and just get rid of people who are just not good enough like Szczesny.
COYG