The Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina thinks that a potential move to Merseyside Premier League team Everton during this summer is a ‘great possibility’.
The 26-year-old Colombian national goalkeeper will fall behind new signing Petr Cech for the next season. Following this, there were rumours that he would move out of the club. Ospina did nothing to douse those links.
The latest reports coming from Colombia have said that the Toffees manager Roberto Martinez will love to work with Ospina at Goodison Park. Martinez rates the Colombian very highly and thinks that he will be an ideal replacement for the ageing Tim Howard.
Ospina should be having an indifferent feeling of the situation at the Emirates. He joined the club after a wonderful World Cup for Colombia. Their dream run is attributed to the goals of James Rodriguez as well as the stupendous keeping of Ospina.
Following his arrival in North London, Ospina showed brilliant form and replaced Wojciech Szczesny as first choice goalkeeper last season. He went on to show great form between the sticks almost shutting the Polish keeper out of the first XI.
But, the arrival of Cech at the club changes the entire scenario. Cech is a world-class keeper and there would be very few around who will have problems with him starting as first choice keeper. This leaves the tussle for the next spot between Szczesny and Ospina.
Reports indicate that Szczesny is willing to bide his time as a challenger and is in fact looking to learn more from the new signing. Ospina is also pleased to get a chance to train alongside Cech – even if it puts his starting place in serious doubt.
However, unconfirmed reports say that he will be willing to move to another club if it guarantees more game time. Fenerbahce were initially rumoured to be a possible destination but nothing moved further. And when reports linked Everton with a potential bid, it caught Ospina’s attention.
The Colombian keeper rates Everton highly and thinks that the Merseyside team is a competitive unit under a good manager. Martinez is looking to shake up things and get Everton back into the European mix after a disappointing season last year. Nevertheless, he lets his side play with flair and this probably is an attraction to Ospina.
It could be a mixed feeling for the supporters if Ospina eventually leaves the club. He served the team with distinction last season though he is not in the same league as Cech. Sometimes, to make the team more competitive and challenge for top honours, you will have to sacrifice some players. Ospina could just be that!
Do you think Arsenal will miss Ospina if he chooses to leave the club? Chelsea allowed Petr Cech to join us for first team football, so should Arsenal let Ospina join Everton for the same reason?
Sridhar