Wojciech Szczesny may not have been at Arsenal for the past year but he is certainly not a forgotten man around the Emirates, with many wondering which club the Polish shot-stopper will be at next season.
The Metro have stated that Szczesny is “keen to leave” the Emirates permanently in the summer, but that Arsenal are casting any transfer into doubt. Arsenal reportedly want to either ship him out on loan again or to keep him at the club next season for backup.
Currently on loan at Roma, Szczesny has proved his worth at the Italian Club and supposedly he is wanted back on loan for next season. SkySports reported how Szczesny’s future however remains up in the air and that it seems that although he may want to stay out on loan at Roma, in order to command a first team place, his desire to achieve success still lies at Arsenal.
It seems like the jury is out on Szczesny, who on his day can be one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League. He shared the Golden Glove award with our very own, then Chelsea player, Petr Cech in the 2013-14 season, showing his capabilities in goal. But fans are split because although he does possess the growing qualities that a great goalkeeper needs, he is a controversial player and is largely inconsistent. Szczesny lost his original place in the Arsenal side to Ospina, after a terrible performance away at Southampton, and he was then later caught smoking in the showers. Szczesny was thus dropped to the bench and Ospina claimed his place for the remainder of the season, only returning to make appearances in the FA Cup. Now on loan, he was also temporarily dropped from the starting lineup as he was also caught smoking after Roma’s 6-1 defeat to Barcelona, showing that he is never a moment away from being surrounded by controversy. With Petr Cech now at the club, and expected to be here for many seasons to come, is there a place at Arsenal for Szczesny?
Petr Cech will undoubtably remain Arsenal’s number one for next season, and you’d expect for a few seasons to come, meaning Szczesny may not be able to have anything more than a backup role and rotation in the cup competitions. It would be understandable if the 26 year old would not be happy with that, however I think the club still believes in Szczesny and that he could learn a lot from Cech. It is then quite possible that Szczesny could reclaim a starting position when Cech decides he will hang up his boots on the professional game and that Szczesny would then be the commanding goalkeeper he was expected to be.
With David Ospina, possibly leaving the club this summer, I think that Szczesny should definitely make a return to Arsenal for next season, and develop under Cech, into the player that he was always expected to become.
Ashley