Arsene Wenger believes David Ospina can still become Arsenal’s number one goalkeeper, despite the impressive form of Petr Cech since joining the Gunners over the summer.
The Colombia international was given his chance to shine in the second-half of last season after Wenger dropped Wojciech Szczesny over a smoking incident which occurred at the start of 2015, and the former Nice shot-stopper impressed. So much so that Ospina became the Wenger’s first-choice goalkeeper and limited Szczesny to only cup appearances.
Ospina is highly-rated by the majority of the Arsena faithful, but since the arrival of Cech, the 27-year-old was once again demoted to the bench and has seen barely any game time this season, starting just five games in all competitions appearances thus far.
Despite his appalling displays against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos in the Champions League, which has somewhat confined him to the bench this term, Wenger is expected to give him another shot of redemption today against Sunderland in the FA Cup.
Although Ospina hasn’t featured much, Wenger has admitted that he’s happy with him remaining in the squad, and also hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the South American coming back into the Premier League starting line-up.
Wenger was quoted in The Guardian saying:
‘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 Cech based on the performances of Ospina. 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. I rate him highly.’
The Frenchman finished off by adding:
‘I think he [Ospina] can be the goalkeeper of the future here as well. With Petr Cech getting [older] year after year, he may get more games.’
A reason why Cech was brought in over the summer was because Wenger knew that he didn’t have a world-class goalkeeper in his squad. Now he has.
Can Ospina really become Arsenal’s first-choice keeper? Perhaps in a few years he can…when Cech isn’t up to it anymore. And the return of Wojciech Szczesny from Roma this summer will not be beneficial to the Colombian’s chances either.
