As a result of Arsenal’s stunning capture of Petr Cech in the summer and the scintilating form displayed by the former Chelsea man, the Gunners reserve keeper David Ospina has hardly seen any first-team action this season and has admitted his frustration at not being able to feature regularly for Arsene Wenger’s side.
As quoted by the Evening Standard, the Colombian said: “It’s hard, because as a player, you always want to play. If you don’t play you have to give your best in training and make sure you train to the highest possible level in order to ensure that you are ready whenever the manager calls on you.
“It’s very important for me to play in the FA Cup. Whenever I play, I want to give my sincere best. I’m always looking forward to playing my next game and I want to make a huge contribution to this club in this competition.”
Quite honestly, I have a great respect for Ospina as he has been nothing but professional throughout the whole situation. He’s simply got on with his job and deserves a lot of credit for how he’s dealt with the situation. Personally, I think that the former Nice man is an outstanding keeper. But with that being said, it really doesn’t seem as though he is cut out for the Premier League.
Standing at barely six feet, Ospina simply does not have the physical presence to command his penalty area and this is a big problem especially in England as the level of physicality is very high. We saw an illustration of this during Arsenal’s FA Cup clash against Hull when he went for a cross and got nowhere near it. Thankfully, Koscielny was alert and saved his blushes.
For me, it seems as though David Ospina will pack his bags in the summer and look for a new club, and I believe that that will be best for both club and player. It will be interesting to see whether Le Prof decides to bring back Wojciech Szczesny from his loan spell in Italy or choose to bring in a new custodian to compete with the undisputed Number 1 Petr Cech.
Anurag