Wojciech Szczesny is a player that won’t be easily forgotten about amongst Arsenal fans, because even though his performances may not have that magical feeling to them, his off the field antics and hatred of Spurs is something that will live long in the memory.
Despite having last appeared for the club in 2015, many consider Szczesny to still have a future at Arsenal. Szczesny lost his place as Arsenal number one after Wenger became sick and tired of giving the Polish shotstopper one too many warnings about his behaviour away from the field of play. From smoking in the showers, to nights out on the town, Szczesny was in the limelight at Arsenal an awful lot and Wenger snapped at the chance of replacing the goalkeeper with Petr Cech in July 2015.
Cech, of course, established himself as the club’s number one goalkeeper and thus Szczesny was sent away on a season long loan to Seria A side AS Roma. The keeper endured a good spell with the club, so much so that he signed another loan deal this term and now it is anticipated that the Italian side are trying to strike a permanent deal with the Gunners.
It’s being reported today that Arsenal are in negotiations with Roma in regards to the permanent sale of Wojciech Szczesny. It is understood the Gunners are keen on a £15 million price tag, which Roma are supposedly willing to pay considering the strength in his performances for them over the past two years. £15 million may seem like a lot for a player of Szczesny’s calibre and especially for a goalkeeper, however let’s not forget some of the crazy prices that are flying around the transfer market nowadays and so demanding such a fee isn’t entirely unrealistic from Arsenal.
Personally I always imagined that Szczesny would return to the Gunners as back up to Petr Cech after gaining a few years of experience. He was well established within the Arsenal set-up and I believed that if Cech was to retire or wind down his career in a year or two, then perhaps Szczesny would be in with a shout of putting the gloves back on for Arsenal. However the 26 year old may consider his time at Arsenal to be over, an opinion that may be shared with manager Arsene Wenger. If that is the case, then I’d be sure to take the £15 million offer if I was Arsenal, because that’s a cracking deal for a goalkeeper who is seemingly no longer wanted on the books.
Arsenal should just take the money and invest it Alexis’ new contract!
By AH