The Independent report that Wojciech Szczesny will return to Arsenal this summer after Roma have decided to look for alternative options for the goalkeeping position next season.
With new sporting director ‘Monchi’ installed at the Serie A club, the Italian side don’t seen willing to make the Polish international’s second season on loan into a permanent move and he’ll come back to North London.
He might find the path back to first football at Arsenal more open than it was in the past. Although Petr Cech has impressed in recent weeks, he’s not getting any younger, and David Ospina is unlikely to stay as he wants to play regular first team football.
Szczesny has had an impressive season in the Italian top flight, keeping more clean sheets than anyone else, and after two years away from the club he basically grew up at, he’d return a more mature player and person.
He got married last year, and the experience of playing in another country, and the fact he’s now 27 means he should be a somewhat calmer character than the one who had a crafty smoke in the dressing room after the 2-0 defeat to Southampton in January 2015.
Szczesny’s last appearance for the Gunners was in the FA Cup final against Aston Villa that same season, keeping a clean sheet as we ran out 4-0 winners over Tim Sherwood’s side.
Bring him home, we say.
Good, I’d absolutely love him back. I don’t know how much Cech has left in him and if we let Zzzzzzz go we’ll be in United’s mess when DDG leaves
I’d bring him back, Petr Cech is getting old so he probably has maximum 2 seasons left in him, Ospina’s going to leave. We’ve been linked with Pickford and he’s definitely leaving this summer, do you guys think it would be too much to have Cech, Szcz, and Pickford as our three centre back, with Cech starting the season has first choice, but with that position to be earned throughout the season by the person that impresses most. I can see it bringing the best out of all three and it would be a safer transition from Czech to our… Read more »
Yes a back three of goalkeepers only (and leaving the goal open) will work marvelously. Joking aside, Cech can probably play more than two seasons, but we’ll likely only want him for the next one.
I thought the 3 were goalkeepers but never mind.
Time to get another drink.
Can’t help but like this man. Every changing room has someone like him, a bit of a maniac but he’d do anything for the team
We’ve certainly missed the passion he brings to the team. Admittedly smoking in the changing room wasn’t the smartest move, but at least it shows that he genuinely cares.
No smoking shows a lack of discipline. Just think about how stupid that makes look, at least do it when we’re at home, and not in an away dressing room. Personally, I think he has the talent but there is something seriously wrong with his decision making. But I still think he should get a last chance to prove himself at Arsenal, hopefully the two seasons away have helped him develop and mature and maybe he is a completely different character now. After all, the Italians don’t tolerate any nonsense, he won’t have have the safe supportive atmosphere he had… Read more »
I remember Lehman not being rated at all when he first came to England. Too temperamental,too unpredictable. Though he was a bit more intense where as schezny was the joker
Szczezny wasn’t just a joker, he was a clown. That era of “banter” players was the worst and he was the biggest clown out of them all. I appreciate that overtime the feelings against Szcz has cooled down but let’s not compare him to Jens Lehman because that guy was an absolute beast. He came to Arsenal as a 33 year old veteran gk, replaced the most successful gk in our history and actually made our team better. Szcz has been at Arsenal for years and we’ve seen him enough times to know what his character is about. Now, I… Read more »
Definitely bring him home. I’m really excited to have him back, I’ve always enjoyed watching him, he seems to be capable of everything as a keeper, shot stopping, aerial presence, and it looks like his distribution has improved. The concern with Cech for me is that he is a 34 year old keeper playing like he is 39. Since when did keepers start getting worse before 35? Whether that is a refelction on Cech or our goalkeeping coaches Im not sure but its a worry. Regardless, I’d welcome the competition between the two of them next year. Ospina has had… Read more »
Problem we’ve got is that he has 1 year left on his contract. That means we either have to guarantee him first team football,which is a big call,or he will unlikely sign a new deal which would force us into selling
If he’s demanding first team football and not willing to earn his place and wait for his chance then I’d sell him in a heartbeat
I certainly agree that we should bring back Sczesny as he seems to be fulfilling his potential as a first class keeper. I am however surprised at your comment about Cech as he has saved us on countless times this season and have not noticed any deterioration in him at all. I know his penalty record is very bad but otherwise I still think he is great keeper.
Honestly, my biggest problem with Cech is his distribution, not his shot stopping. Even in the last couple of games where he has produced some great saves, there have been a few times when he kicks the ball straight to an opponent. Doesn’t help to relieve pressure on our defenders.
Well said. Frankly, I’m amazed that nobody else has highlighted Cech’s awful distribution in either the comments, or Blogs/gunnerblog on the blogs/podcasts. Every time my wife and I have watched Arsenal for months we moan about Cech’s awful distribution. The number of times his kicks go straight to the opposition, or he kicks straight out of touch is shocking. It’s been his biggest problem for a long time, and the fact that he hasn’t improved it or changed his approach, AND the coaching staff have apparently not addressed this problem, says a lot about the lackadaisical attitude to tactics and… Read more »
His distribution was appalling at Chelsea as well, so i think it’s likely just a flaw that he’s unable to rectify. In fact I think it’s improved since he’s arrived here.
I seem to recall people having similar issues with Szcz.
Perhaps it is not the keeper but the tactics (or lack of) that we employ on goal kicks and free kicks that cause the problems.
He’s not awful, and I think last season he was especially useful, but this year there have been a few times that he has been beaten by shots at range, and shots at his near post that have surprised me. On top of this, he was billed (by John Terry…) as a keeper that would save us 10-12 points a season, and I’m not really sure thats happened. I’m not saying this is entirely his fault or his responsibility but I also thought he would be a lot more effective in vocally organising our defense. I really expected Cech to… Read more »
You can’t trust anything quoted as said by John Terry, because he’s a cunt.
While Cech has saved us on many occasions, he has also been pretty culpable of not performing at his best – his pass to Fabregas, only for Cesc to place it firmly in the net springs to mind. I’m not going to suggest that Cech is ‘done’ but he should certainly be challenged for the starting spot. I’m not convinced Ospina has enough of what we need to really take the number 1 jersey. Szczesny I feel has what we need to really cement the number one spot for us. Lest we forget he was tied with Cech for Golden… Read more »
Worded perfectly. I also felt cech had been in decline but was gutted to say it
Just to point out, their not keeping him isn’t really a reflection on his performances. More so this new guy wants to stamp his own authority over the team with new signings, also Spaletti looks set to leave so keeping a loaned player would make little sense with the risk the new manager doesn’t fancy him. He’s popular with a set of fans which are not easily pleased which is the acid test really.
I’m still positive about Szczesny. I think he can be a very good keeper for us for many years taking into account the experience he gathered playing at Seria A…
I’m confused as to why Roma don’t want to buy him. Anyone know why? Only heard positive things about him this season.
From checking out the AS Roma subreddit, seems like it’s because the predetermined fee is 17M euros, and they have a young keeper with potential (Allison). Unfortunately Roma isn’t that rich.
Besides, Arsenal also look like they’re not satisfied with Cech and Ospina, so Roma fans are quite pessimistic. I’d be quite happy with him back from what I’ve read. I’ve never watched him play for Roma though.
Overall, he’s been great for Roma. He’s much better than two years ago.
And he weren’t all that bad 2 years ago either.
Lost his head somewhat after a disappointing defeat. But he was always quality. Still recall his loan days at Brentford before he broke through, still rate him highly.
I was at the Roma-Lazio game, the first goal he let in was a bit bad from him, but he made two top saves later in the game. He looked solid.
Much better keeper than Ospina imo. Can’t see any logic in not bringing him back.
Would be an improvement on what we have at the moment
I think if Roma did want to keep him would be a sign of him being topclass but they don’t so……..
This time last year Roma buying a Brazilian international keeper was a sign Chesney wasn’t top class too apparently and yet he hasn’t played a minute in Serie A ahead of Chesney.
Yeah, being golden gloves at Serie A (likely) and keeping out a bonafide top keeper in Allisson must mean he’s shit.
Applying your logic, it’s like saying “Why would Barca sell Sanchez? He must not be topclass”.
I saw a game the other night where he threw himself across the entire goal, more or less from one post to the other. I don’t think any of our two senior keepers would have pulled that off.
I like that he’s half-mad. I like that he gets ticked off when the defense do stupid things. I’m somewhat negative to smoking in the shower, but that’s more than two years ago.
I’m not sure I’m even that negative about him smoking in the shower now. Seems absolutely, brilliantly hilarious!
It’s not clever (to smoke) as a professional athlete. But, I was never all that bothered by it.
I understand why he was sent out on loan though, I think he had become too ‘comfortable’, knowing his place on the team was not under any threat.
I think he proved he can definitely be better with a more organized defense and I’m sure he learnt a thing or two in Italy. I think he can challenge Cech now, but we still need to sort our defense out first.
Mad as Fuck, but a lot of top goal keeps are………. I for one think it’s very positive for the club.
On a side note, anyone see Forster yesterday for Southampton? Winding Milner b4 the peno? Brilliant….. Mad as fuck!
We miss you, Szcz. Calmer and more mature character? Yes. Welcome back!
Shouldn’t we be concerned that they’re letting him go in spite of topping the clean sheet chart? I used to love Szcz, but unless we have someone at De Gea, Oblak, Courtouis level, this can’t be an improvement. I would prefer Martinez get his chance as deputy.
Good news
Truth be told, he won’t turn into a world class goalkeeper at 27. It would be nice to have him around for all the obvious reasons, but he’s just a top four guy. Arsenal needs better than that.
Some of you guys are weird.
If you had rumours of “Arsenal looking to buy Golden Gloves keeper of Serie A” you would all be chomping at the bit.
We should be looking for someone to reach the levels of Neuer, de Gea or Courtois (who’s two years younger, ffs), and he’s not the guy.
Courtois has been bang average this season, and the other two are head and shoulders above every other keeper on the planet. Jens wasn’t one of the top three in the world in pure keeping ability, but we did fairly well with him. Don’t be so unrealistic.
He’ll be L.A.N.S.
L.A.N.S.
Very happy to see that basically everyone agrees he should come back to Arsenal. I’d actually prefer to see Szczesny start ahead of Cech right away and have Cech play the non-BPL games while tutoring him.
BPL? Oh, the Prem.
I think he can come back and compete with Cech when Ospina ships out.
He’s more mature now and he will have one of the best/most experience keepers in Cech to help mentor him further.
What his penalty Record like? It has to be better than Cech. His distribution must also be better but the criticism from 2 years ago was the lack of calm influence behind the back 4 (3 now) so if that is sorted bring him back.
Well, for starters he did save that penalty from Kuyt, twice!
Will be like a new signing so we won’t need any other players haha just joking please don’t down vote me
Szczesny should probably return after two years loan spells at AS roma because our first choice petr cech is in twilights of his career while second choice ospina performed poorly when petr cech got injured And third choice emi martinez does well when both cech and ospina got injured but Still not ready to be first choice so szczseny should return next season and atleast replace ospina who I think didnt performed well this season and should probably leave the club.Next season ospina should leave and we should start the season with cech as first choice szczseny as second choice… Read more »
Can’t we just give him to Roma.
Anyone been watching him enough lately to know if he’s improved in one-on-one situations when a player breaks free on goal? In those kind of situations previously it was pretty much a penalty every time. He hardly ever got the ball.
Yes! He’s our keeper for the next ten years.
He’s coming home, he’s coming home, he’s coming, Szczesny’s coming home,
he’s coming home, he’s coming home, he’s coming, Szczesny’s coming home etc etc
Because if I have Three Lions by the Lightning Seeds stuck in my head, you do too.
Thanks for that.
Sure I could have not read your comment, but where would be the fun in that ?
I was the one who was defending Szczesny in 2015. He is very good goalkeeper and he was saving us a lot that season but most of you made him bad just because of the Southampton game. And now I feel i must do exactly with Cech. He saved us 12-15 points this season already. Only in last 5 games, apart from Spurs which he was also brilliant, he saved our arses a lot. (UTD, Leicester, Middlesbrough, City). And with our weak confidence in the last few months we would have probably not won those games. He is still a… Read more »