So Petr Cech is set to join Arsenal in a matter of days, with reports suggesting a £10 million deal is in place and the Gunners prepared to offer him £100,000-a-week, which would make him the highest paid goalkeeper in the club’s history.
Now while this is a great piece of business which has delighted Arsenal fans around the country, will it not stall Wojciech Szczesny’s development? Let me explain what I mean by this.
Szczesny played second fiddle to David Ospina at the start of the year, which the Pole was not happy about. His is lack of playing time cast doubt over his future, with reports linking him with a move away from the Emirates. However, Szczesny has committed himself to Arsenal and is prepared to fight for his place in the starting line-up, which is admirable and what you want to hear as a fan, someone who is not prepared to quit when the going gets tough.
But knowing Cech is on his way to the Emirates and going to get paid the salary mentioned above, surely Szczesny knows he will not be Arsene Wenger’s first-choice goalkeeper next season?
Ospina is set to join Fenerbahce, leaving Cech and Szczesny to fight it out for a starting position. But let’s face it, Cech is going to be ahead of the Pole in the pecking order, which doesn’t make a great deal of sense from this fans point of view. Szczesny needs to play regularly in order to develop and improve his game – he won’t be doing this next season in my opinion. So why didn’t Wenger keep Ospina as a back-up to Cech and loan out Szczesny instead? Wouldn’t this have worked out for everyone involved? Cech would be the first-choice shot-stopper and Ospina would play in the lesser games and in the minor cup competitions, while Szczesny (out on loan) would also feature regularly for another club, thus not sit on the bench and stunt his development.
Don’t get me wrong, it is pleasing to see that we have two very capable goalkeepers at the club for Wenger to choose from, but I fear it will be a wasted season for Szczesny as he will be warming the bench for the majority of it.
Woj has age on his side unlike ospina. Ospina can’t be an understudy for cech cos he’s d captain n first choice for Colombia
Woj has age on his side unlike ospina. Ospina can’t be an understudy for cech cos he’s d captain n first choice for Colombia
Szez has had no-one at the club to learn from and respect. Almunia, Fabianski & Mannone were all donkeys. If Cech comes he also brings his coach and suddenly Szez will develop with the best and with people he can respect and listen to. He will get all the cup games and fair amount of Prem games too after Champions League away trips I would imagine. He will flourish under Cech and knowing Cech’s age he will know that within a couple of years he will justifiably challenge for the No.1 shirt again and keep it once he has it.
You really make sense.Wenger should loan out szczesny and use ospina as a back up to cech because szczesny he is not happy since when he lost his number one spot to ospina. That is the truth
Wow! What a great deal! I believe this is exactly what Wenger should do considering the fact Sczczesny is also a good goalkeeper and it willn’t be a good idea to stall/halt his development.Age is on his side though but nevertheless,he should be loaned out.He’s a future arsenal great.
Best decision for Arsene to have done. Although Ospina stands as 1st choice of the colombian national team, its best for him to develop. The colombian team not bigger than Arsenal!
Szczesny is an error prone keeper and he needs to be loaned out for good two season just like Chelsea did with Thibaut Courtois. ospina is a great keeper and am sure he will still be number one if we keep him
Wenger knows best! That’s why he is the manager and we aren’t… #peacebestill
I agree with you but agree with Chaz too. I prefer ospina as a second GK because he is simple better than szchesny, We defeated twice or worst case 3 times since the coq and him started in the first eleven. So for my i prefer Cech and ospina and i don’t care for szhesny, but if we don’t sell him and keep him as a loanee to other clubs since the other two are old, it will be good too. Never felt save with szchesny thus i am so against him..
u talk as if its already happenned. Last time i checked ospina is still an arsenal player and cech a chelsea player. So all this ‘why ddnt wenger do this or that’ is completely out of place.