When the Poland and Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny was made into a first team regular at the young age (for a keeper) of 21, he seemed to have the world at his feet and a long and distinguished career awaited him as the Gunners Number One.
Arsene Wenger had great confidence that he would go on to become an Arsenal legend, and backed him to the hilt after every error he made. But all that support suddenly disappeared when he was caught smoking (for the second time) in the shower after commiting two howlers against Southampton on New Years Day this year. Wenger was outraged and reportedly fined him 20,000 Pounds and immediately dropped him in favour of David Ospina.
Szczesny continually vowed to fight for his place and claimed that he wanted to stay at the Emirates for his whole career, but Ospina played so well that the Pole never got a look in for the rest of the season. Meanwhile Arsene Wenger was lining up Petr Cech for the summer, and Woj was still hoping to stay on as understudy.
But Wenger persuaded him it would be good for him to go out on loan to get regular playing time, and so he was shipped off to Roma in the summer. But now he has put all that in jeopardy once again. He had the pleasure of conceding six goals from Barcelona in midweek and afterwards (you’ll never guess!), yes he was caught smoking again!
Now he has been dropped by Roma boss Rudi Garcia, and his weakness for the weed may have relegated him to the bench for the rest of his loan spell. Roma have already hinted that they have a new keeper lined up for next season, so it looks like Szczesny will be returning to Arsenal. How will we persuade anyone else to take him on loan if he keeps sparking up after a bad game……