In a move which has taken us all by complete surprise, Wojciech Szczesny has joined Roma on loan.
The 25-year-old will spend the season in Serie A after agreement was reached between the two clubs at the end of last week.
Having started last season as the club’s number 1, some indifferent form, a poor display against Southampton on New Year’s Day, and his subsequent Szczilk Cut antics saw him benched for most of the campaign.
He was, however, selected ahead of David Ospina in the FA Cup final, maintaining the manager’s new tradition of letting a Polish goalkeeper go with a medal.
Speaking last week Arsene Wenger said he wanted Szczesny to have a future at the club, but it’s very rare that when these kind of moves happen the player ever returns.
Since his debut in 2009, Woj has played 181 games for the club, it remains to be seen if he’ll add to that tally, but we wish him good luck out in Rome (with his new teammate Ashley Cole – heh).
Like Szcz, hope he comes back. Not sure he will if Cech is number 1 for the next 5 years, but Szcz always was an Arsenal boy/man so great if he could return.
he looks like a 17 year old heading out for his gap year in this photo.
Best wishes son. His story would have been great – a young keeper nailing down his position for years on end. That was not to be.
Who says he can’t come back stronger? But Cech, Ospina and Martinez are a formidable trio. Sadly, I think this is the beginning of the end of Szczesny in Arsenal.
And rightly so, this should be the end of his silly gimmicks in a team that is building to win. I maintain that he has himself to blame because he had a chance and decided to piss on it. He it comfortable, lazy and cocky – OSP showed him how a true pro should be.
Best of luck to him and hope he returns better than before. Hopefully having an older pro at Roma to learn from will help him, whilst still getting valuable game time to help his consistency.
I have told this here before and was ridiculed too. But let me tell this again. Cech will be our number one goalkeeper for next three-four years. A player like Sczcesny who has already played 181 games for Arsenal will not be ready to sit on the bench for these many years and wait for Cech to deteriorate or retire. He will not renew his contract which is due to end in 2018. Whereas Ospina came to Arsenal, clearly knowing that he will be a bench man. Sczcesny is definitely young and better than Ospina, but keeping him and letting… Read more »
Tom you have a face I’d love too bitch slap many times.
jonnycakes82 you on the other hand look like a bitch. take your infected face off before someone puts you down. you punk ass. how you weren’t swallowed before being conceived, nobody is sure, nature’s mistake.
(mods, this in response to abuse of another poster above. meant to be an educational post in how it might feel if the boot goes on the other foot)
Take it elsewhere children if you would please.
On the point about Ospina being more willing to start as backup than Szcz were my thoughts too.
However I do hope Szcz comes back as a better keeper and stay with Arsenal for a long time.
I wish he had gone to another Premier League team closer home.
There is less than two years in it between Sczcesny and Ospina, letting Ospina go would have been a mistake because Ospina is better.
So Instagram is the most reliable thing since sliced Instagram?
Wow have to say am living this new ruthless wenger,never in my life would I have thought he would buy Cech and now sending szc on loan wow, it’s either you sit up at arsenal now or get loaned or sold
Bad omen for the FA Cup – we need to get another Polish keeper that we can let go once they have played in the final and we have won the Cup.
It worked the last two years.
Bielik is pretty tall, if we start converting him now he should be ready to do a job for us by May.
Columbian/Polish, same difference. Ospina can pick up his gold medal and get sold on, allowing Sir Chesney (having pulled his finger out and smashed it in Italy) a place to come back to, giving him until Christmas to usurp Cech, relegating Cech to cup goalie, and so the cycle will continue.
Czech Republic is not so far from Poland. Check might still work.
All the Best bro.
Good luck to him and hope he does well for himself. But I think the two best keepers still remain at the club. Ospina’s career the last 3 years have been fantastic. Consistently among the top 5 goalkeepers in Europe when you look at shots to save ratio and average goals conceeded per game. He had a great world cup and did not let in a single goal from open play in copa America. In my opinion a real gem of a keeper who will probably improve even more under Cech’s guidance. Allthough i like Szczesny, him being homegrown and… Read more »
Sad news as I don’t think he’ll be back. Always been a fan of Woj has a real passion for the club. That said I see Cech as our number one for at least 5 seasons and think Martinez will be patient enough to wait that long and learn everything he can from Cech.
Hi all, Apologies for posting this here but I’m really in a bind and I hope that fellow Arsenal supporters can help me out. I’ve been following Arsenal for about 14 years from afar in Calgary, Canada (more than half my life as I’m in my 20’s). I’ve watched essentially every minute of every game since then! I’ve also been subscribed to Arseblog digest for years and start my mornings by reading Andrew’s daily blog. I’m finally in London and this Sunday at the Community Shield will hopefully be my first live Arsenal game with my wife. I purchased tickets… Read more »
Try Twitter. More likely to find Chelsea supporters there who are in the same (opposite) situation and looking to trade.
Good luck with that trade off. Enjoy the game. COYG!!!!!
Lets sock it to Chelsh*t.
Did Chezzers get reality rick-rolled? Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down…..
I have a feeling if it weren’t for the homegrown rule we would be selling him right now instead of loaning him out. Hopefully that works in his favour and he can come back stronger.
If he’d concentrated on football and performed to his full potential Cech would be a PSG and SZCZ would be starting this season as our no.1 …only himself to blame
“but it’s very rare that when these kind of moves happen the player ever returns.” Not really. Coq was one you thought was off. You also said the same thing about Jenko too till Wenger made it clear he was going nowhere long term and he signed a contract extension. It’s no a case of it being rare, but in that we’re in a different position now. We’re not dependant on youngsters as before. Quite frankly, this idea that Cech is guaranteed for the next 5 yes is bizarre. I think Chez’s talent due to his recent form has been… Read more »
Bah, stupid touch screen.
He’ll probz get the Cortious treatment of 2 season loans and if he performs well over 2 seasons, will return to usurp Cech and Cech could find himself in déjà vu.
It’s all in Chez’s hands, so don’t write him off yet.
Agree, hopes he comes back and knocks Cech out because he is so good.
Brentford though.
http://youtu.be/brPWeQIc4Eo
Lots of sublime saves.
I would agree if scezhney was a buffon in disguise , but lets be honest, he is nowhere near that level or near that kind of potential/talent/work ethic/intelligence.
I’ll miss his trolling of the Spuds. His ‘when the spurs go marching in’ on piano, in an arsenal jersey, after we beat them in the league was High quality trolling. Good luck Shezzer, you were a true gooner, just a lttle bit daft. Hope it goes well for you in Rome.
Don’t smoke kids!
I won’t say I believe his future is still at Arsenal, but I do hope so.
” maintaining the manager’s new tradition of letting a Polish goalkeeper go with a medal.” lol. . . No Chezney isn’t gone.
Well done Arsene Wenger !! Petr cech or ospina any day over scezhney. The manager wants a serious goalkeeper to target the league title. Not a teenager.
I wish him luck in Rome. He better grow up though. I don’t want him anywhere near North London if he still comes back and behaves like a teenager.
He is such a talent and potentially world class. But, he has also the potential to turn into another Nicklas Bendtner. I hope I’m not being too critical of him because I really want him to be the future no. 1 at The Arsenal.