Wojciech Szczesny must be in the middle of an unwanted dilemma. The Polish keeper at the start of last season wouldn’t have imagined that he will end up where is now. He was the first choice keeper for the Gunners and looked good enough to nail the place.
But ‘good enough’ was not what the fans or the gaffer liked. Arsene Wenger demanded consistency and top performances from his goalkeeper; week-in week-out. Szczesny, truth be told, was prone for errors and was always on the periphery of being benched.
The frustration of watching regular mishaps prompted Arsene Wenger to hand over the gloves to David Ospina, who did a fair job. Ospina went on to make the position his own and looked safe compared to Szczesny.
But, relative improvement is not what Wenger is after. He knows very well that for Arsenal to challenge for the EPL title, he needs safe hands between the bars. And safe hands he did recruit by finalizing a deal for the Chelsea goal keeper Petr Cech.
The reports are varied in terms of when Cech will arrive at North London but the verdict is more or less certain – Cech will be wearing the red of Arsenal next season.
This leaves both Szczesny and Ospina in a delicate situation. If the reports being heard from the ground are true, Ospina is ready to accept a move to Fenerbahce. That leaves the ‘dilemma’ goalie Szczesny.
From being a first choice to being benched to being an understudy to one of the world’s best goal keepers – this may not do justice to the journey of Szczesny over the past year. But, this aptly summarizes his current predicament.
Szczesny will not be made available in the transfer market and would be competing with Cech. On current form, it will be difficult to see Wenger picking Szczesny over Cech but strange things have happened on the football pitch. However, it will take a very brave man to punt on Szczesny starting in the first XI ahead of Cech.
One thing coming out of all this is the fact that after a long time Wenger will be able to summon a world class goal keeper. Cech will surely improve the squad and Szczesny can improve his own form by training with the Czech goalkeeper. It will benefit the side immensely if Szczesny can add consistency to his game and be ready to be summoned. And perhaps one day Szczesny could relegate Cech to the bench!
Sridhar