Arsenal’s young Pole Wojciech Szczesny is currently on loan at Roma and with the Serie A club already clear that he will not be needed next season, his future is now up in the air. There were whispers that David Ospina was unhappy with his lack of playing time as understudy to Petr Cech, but Arsene Wenger’s comments yesterday seem to indicate that the Colombian will be staying at the club for a long long time.
Wenger told the media that Ospina would be between the posts for he Sunderland FA Cup clash and explained his view on David’s future. “I think he can be the goalkeeper of the future here as well,” Le Prof said. “With Petr Cech getting older year after year, he may get more games as well…I believe that Ospina is not treated fairly. If you look at the whole of 2015, everybody neglects he played six months.
“I personally think he is world-class. I did not take Petr Cech based on the performances of Ospina. Petr Cech was just an exceptional opportunity where it was difficult to say no. It was not because I was unhappy with Ospina.
“I was very happy with Ospina. It was just an opportunity to say no would not have been right. Unfortunately, Ospina has been punished by that decision. I rate him highly.
“True he had a bad season because he has that mistake (against Olympiacos) and when you do not have many opportunities and you have one bad catch, everyone is after you.”
“My job is to make decisions and selections,”
“That of course is not always very popular but at the end of the day you just want to make the right decision, knowing that sometimes it is a 50/50.
“I can give you the last example. I did not play Laurent Koscielny against Bournemouth, Gabriel comes in and scores, he nearly scores two goals.
“Against Newcastle, I decide to play Koscielny – which is unfair towards Gabriel – Koscielny comes in, scores and we win 1-0.
“Who can predict that? The first decision was unfair and at the end of the day the decision was right because Koscielny scored but even me, 30 years in the job, I didn’t know that before the game.
“When you have two good players you have always a chance to make the right decision.”
So it sounds like Ospina isn’t going anywhere soon and this will leave Szczesny in limbo yet again. I know he is still young, but if he comes back to Arsenal he will be classed as the understudy to the understudy until Cech retires and Ospina as well. This could be a very very long time…..
Should we sell Szczesny in the summer or send him out on loan again….