Wojciech Szczesny has all but joined Roma on a season-long loan, putting his Arsenal career in jeopardy.
The 25-year-old Polish goalkeeper did not feature for Arsenal in the Premier League in 2015, swapping roles with then second-choice shot-stopper David Ospina, after being found smoking in the changing rooms following the club’s loss to Southampton on New Year’s Day.
The arrival of Petr Cech did not do anything to assure Szczesny that he was going to reclaim his starting position this season, with the experienced Czech now seen as Arsene Wenger’s new number one.
Ospina was linked with a move to Fenerbahce, but it looks like the Colombian is set to be Cech’s understudy, with Szczesny moving to Roma.
It is not yet known if there is a fixed price or an option for Roma to take him on permanently after his loan spell, but this usually seems to be the case.
But was the club right to let Szczesny leave on a season-long loan this summer?
Well following the arrival of Cech, even before he joined actually, I endorsed the idea of letting Szczesny go out on loan and keeping Ospina as back-up to the former Chelsea goalkeeper.
Why? Because Szczesny would have wasted this season warming the bench. The Pole needs to play regularly and if he stayed he wouldn’t have done this – so a loan move was his best and, quite frankly, hi only option at this stage of his career.
Hopefully he comes back next summer better than ever and stake a real claim for Cech’s position in the side.
