Arsene Wenger admits it was tough persuading David Ospina to stay at Arsenal this summer given his desire to play regular first team football.
It looked almost certain that the Colombia international would leave the Emirates when he confirmed in May that he’d be allowed to talk to potential suitors this summer.
Despite strong interest from clubs in France and Turkey, the player has decided to stay another season to challenge Petr Cech for the ‘number one’ shirt.
“Yes, it was not easy [to persuade him to stay] because all these players want to play.
“They are top level players, they want as well to go to the World Cup but he will get a number of games here as well.
“He fights with Petr Cech and the fight is quite open. At the moment I play Petr Cech but this battle is not won definitely by Cech.
“I rate highly Ospina and anyway we’ll play other competitions and he’ll play.”
No doubt the sale of Wojciech Szczesny and temporary exit of Emi Martinez has played a part in persuading Ospina to stick around for another year. It’ll be interesting to see who is given the role of third choice stopper with Matt Macey and Ryan Huddart both vying for a chance to get game time in the League Cup.
So you work hard to convince Ospina to stay but sell a better goalkeeper in Szczesny for less then what he’s worth? Yep makes perfect sense. Jesus wept.
I Agree that it was below his value but take into consideration that when u are reluctant to sell the prize goes downwards. It’s not only Wengers fault if Szczezny was not motivated enough two years ago… Szcz matured over these years but for me he is still behind Cech and Ooooospina.
But much better than Ospina
If Szczesny becomes a world-class keeper I will eat my hat but I can’t ever see it happening. I think we get a bit carried away with the quality of some of our players
Whilst at Roma he Consistently improved, had one of the best ratio of clean sheets in Europe and was snapped up by the club that buys the best players from their rivals in their league.
What else does he need to do to prove he is up there?
also if a team is reluctant to sell surely the price goes higher?
He’s going to Juventus to be back-up keeper not start.
He’s going to replace Buffon next year. Big difference.
He is taking over as no. 1 from Buffon who will soon retire. Selling Szczesny was brainless
Big difference in the quality of the PL and Serie A though. I wish Szcz well but Ospina is a perfectly fine back-up for us
What if, just imagine, Szcz didn’t want to stay?
He made it quite clear on a number of occasions he did want to stay, and even after leaving it was quite obvious from his press conference for Juve that he didn’t want to leave.
This was a decision made purely by Wenger, and it now seems clear that Wenger’s decision was based on personal and emotional reasons, rather than pure evidence, because idence is on Szcz’s side.
Asda, please take a look at the press.conference when he was presented at Juve. When he was asked.about Arsenal. Then tell me if gf wanted to stay.
Why so many thumbs down for a perfectly true comment
Because most people here still rate Wenger. Some will till they die, some will turn against him when we fcukup sooner than later.
You are acting like Wenger sold Sanchez for £10 million to Juve.
Still sold a world class player.
He’s about to give Sanchez away on a free >.<
Exactly Glocken, crazy stuff, Wenger must be on some weird mushrooms… Ospina.. Ospina.. Omg.. Can’t believe that we are stuck with a guy for one more.year and we let Szcz go, who looks like and plays like a top keeper finally… Ospina looks like a GK midget and is average at best, never convinced me and he surely cannot grow anymore (pun intended :).
I don’t believe for a second it was hard to convince Ospina to stay.
‘I’m leaving’
‘OK. You can to Turkey or Nantes. There’s nobody else interested’.
‘I’m staying.’
Hahaha 🙂 Kwame, that’s great (and probably true :)))
Very pleased he’s staying for this season. He’s an excellent back up to Cech. Well done to Arsene for persuading him.
PR dpt. of Arsenal at work…
Domi the Turd at work.
Glad to hear Wenger being strict with his stars and have a flexible pecking order. Competition will definitely improve us!!!
Cech is the clear winner.
Cech v Szcz would have been a better competition.
What’s flexible about it?
It’s quite clear what the pecking order is.
Ospina had champions league didnt he?
How depressing.
I agree that I would have liked Szczesny to stay, but Ospina is a really good keeper in my opinion, and a more than able back up to Cech. How many teams have an international first choice GK as their second choice. COYG.
Manure
That’s not a number.
Then I guess his answer is, 1?
Struggling to see what Oospina has done wrong, apart from being a couple of inches too short
He’s poor on crosses & induces panic in his defence at every setpiece.
I shat myself at every set piece well before we bought Ospina, seem to remember someone else in goal
This is more than likely more spin….. What he really means is: “Ospina wanted out because he wanted to play regular football, but once he realised no one else would match his pay packet, he decided he was committed to Arsenal and up for the fight’ “After speaking to numerous clubs this summer, Gibbs, Jenks, Debuchy, Perez, Jack have also decided they want to stay and count their wages this season’ ” I did tell Theo he was free to move, but at this point he started crying like a little girl and promised to work hard for 80% of… Read more »
Sorry guys can’t agree, from what I have seen he seems pretty average to me and prone to the odd flap. I would rather have seen Emi stay as backup.
Don’t cry for me…..ooooooooooooSPINA
Footballers are a bunch of funny creatures. Lucas Perez is now 28 yrs of age. All this while in his entire professional carrier perez has never been invited to the Spanish national team. Now, I heard he is eager to leave arsenal so he could get more first- team playing time elsewhere, because next year is a world cup year. So, Lucas Perez is now looking forward to playing for Spain in the world cup next year. What an irony!
I strongly believe Wenger allowed Zschesney to leave arsenal because they couldn’t keep both Ospina him and once the club succeeded in convincing Ospina to stay it was an easy choice who to keep to compete with Chech. I think Wenger sees Ospina as a better goalkeeper. They know the ability of these players better than us fans.
I’d guess that like others, he went out and tested the market, found that the money on offer elsewhere didn’t match his current contract, so he is sticking around.
Name one stumpy keeper that played for a a top club?
Only Arsenal. When it comes to goalies, height definitely matters.
Casillas at Real Madrid?
Casillas is a bit taller (true, not much), has a neck and is actually a good GK. Also is not prone to silly mistakes (standing in your goal i.e.)
Casillas is 1,85, Ospina 1,83.
that’s basically the same height. And ospina is a good keeper. He made a mistake like every other keeper makes mistakes. I’ve seen really bad mistakes from Neuer, quite a few. That happens.
You didn’t say they had to be a good goalkeeper, just at a too club. One could say that you are…shifting the goalposts…
*Tumbleweed
Iker Casillas – Real Madrid
Keylor Navas – Real Madrid
Julio Cesar – Inter
Jordan Pickford – Everton
Claudio Bravo – Barca, Man City
Just pretty much off the top of my head.
You did answer the question, to be fair – he didn’t say they had to be good.
George McStump played in goal for Aston Villa 1928 – 1937 winning two league titles.
Before usain bolt, tall guys couldn’t sprint. Height don’t maketh the keeper, it helps tho.
Barthez at Man United
His height is an issue……but his poor decision making & his inability to provide any sense of calm at all at every set piece are far bigger issues.
I wonder who’ll be our champs lge keeper this season? Oh wait
Does Szczesny start for Poland? And if i recall when he and Ospina were in the squad together Ospina kept him out. And thus the reason we shout Ospinaaaaaaaa!
Ospina should actually be Arsenal No.1. Cech is riding on history and probably a clause in his contract!!
Keeping Ospina was some good piece of business; now Wenger should do the same for Sanchez, Ox and Ozil if we are to be considered serious contenders for the championship!
Szczesny’s numbers where always goinh to improve in a league like Serie A especially with such a defensive mindset. This also wouldve given him the confidence to perform at his best, which is what we’re seeing now. Would he maintain that confidence in the EPL, who knows? I would’ve loved to see him be Cech and Jens’ understudy as Ospina’s not going to develop any further now. But, it looks like the situation was like that of Fabgregas, good player who can’t be guaranteed playing time, we couldn’t get rid of Ospina so we had to sell Szczesny. Good luck… Read more »
Why is it that Szczesny can still improve but Ospina can’t?
If age is the issue here, David is 28 while Wojciech is 27.
With Jens at the club, I’d challenge any goalkeeper to not improve – including Cech.