When the likes of Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone departed Arsenal, it was evident that Wojciech Szczesny was going to be the club’s No. 1 for years to come… so he thought. He was closing in on 200 appearances for the club and he didn’t believe that David Ospina would be a threat but when he messed up badly against Southampton at St. Mary’s, he paved the way for the Colombian and he found himself on the fringes at the club.
Then Arsenal made a bold move in the summer – signing Petr Cech from rivals, Chelsea. Many believed that Ospina would be shipped out to accommodate the big Czech but no one, including Szczesny, saw the Polish shot stopper leaving the club after so many years of service but hey, that’s football.
A few months on, Szczesny now plies his trade for AS Roma and he’s playing consistent football for the Italian giants that are currently sitting on third place in the Serie A table after seven wins, two draws and two defeats in their firts 11 games, but Szczesny still harbors hopes of playing for the Gunners again,
“Anything can happen in nine months, so I don’t know what will happen at the end of the season. However Arsenal are like my family. If somebody would have told me a year ago that I would be playing for Roma I wouldn’t have believed them, but this is football.
“I must admit that if Arsenal called me back I would say yes.”
As it stands, it’s only Arsene Wenger that can determine whether Szczesny still has a future at Arsenal. Cech is 33 and is raking in the clean sheets like crazy and I expect him to be in Arsenal’s goal for many years. Ospina has more or less accepted his status as the deputy goalie so it’s going to be interesting to see how the situation is managed by Wenger.
If I’m Szczesny, I would focus on doing well at Roma. I’m pretty sure Wenger has deployed some scouts to Italy to monitor his progress. It’s too early for the goalie to start thinking about his Arsenal future.
Sayonara.
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