Wojciech Szczesny
The long-serving goalkeeper was on loan at Roma last season following the arrival of Petr Cech from Chelsea.
Last season, the Poland international was ever-present for the Serie A club, making 42 appearances in all competitions, helping them qualify for the Champions League.
The 26-year-old was expected to return to Arsenal to challenge Cech for the gloves, but instead opted to remain another season on loan with Roma for the current campaign, with David Ospina being Wenger’s second-choice goalkeeper.
Clearly Szczesny thought his best chance of playing regularly this season was to remain at Rome, and he probably made the right call.
Now the problem for Szczesny is his patience – whether he has enough of it. At 33, Cech still has several years ahead of him, so it will be up to the Polish goalkeeper to decide whether he is happy to play second fiddle to the former Chelsea man, or leave the club permanently at the end of the season.
Personally, I believe Szczesny still has a future at Arsenal. He has the ability to succeed and become Arsenal’s first-choice keeper in the future. But I think his lack of patience will get the better of him, leading to his departure from the Emirates next summer.
