Poor David Ospina has been resigned to being Arsenal’s Cup keeper for the last couple of seasons, but surely a stopper of his quality should be looking to play for a top team every week and he will probably try to engineer a move away this summer.
This could mean that Wojciech Szczesny could be recalled from Roma as backup, but the Pole has also improved dramatically whilst out on loan, and is another that will be wanting to be first-choice wherever he plays, so neither him nor Ospina will have been encouraged by Wenger’s words yesterday ahead of Petr Cech’s 35th birthday…
“You have examples like Edwin van der Sar, who had similar stature, who played until 40 and played until 40 with top-quality performances. So yes, I think Petr has a few more years left,” the manager said.
“He has recently been very sharp. We have three world-class goalkeepers in my opinion and that maintains the focus of everybody. Petr has recently had some great performances.
“He’s highly focused and very professional. You do not make a career like he has made by coincidence. All that of course is always a consequence of the attitude to be a winner, the attitude every day to push yourself. Overall I think it’s fantastic to have people like that at the club.”
If Wenger is thinking like that, it is going to be very difficult to keep Ospina and Szczesny motivated to stay at the club. The next in line of course is Emiliano Martinez, who has impressed in his few first team appearances, and was highly acclaimed while on loan at Wolves last season.
Would we be happy if he was our main backup to Cech?