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Yesterday Arsène Wenger confirmed that bar a few formalities Wojciech Szczesny would join Roma on loan for the 2015/16 season. With the arrival of Petr Cech, the young Pole was going to find minutes hard to come by and that isn’t even factoring in the potential of him still being behind David Ospina in the pecking order. As such the move makes perfect sense.
When we signed Cech I said it showed a ruthless side to Wenger that many had complained he lacked. The arrival of a goalkeeper of Cech’s stature meant that one of Ospina and Szczesny was going to be shipped out.
Only the most ardent Ospina critic would claim benching him after one season isn’t harsh – especially when you look at his performances; he hasn’t really done anything wrong. He likely would have moved permanently, and there were rumours of interest from Turkey, which would have been cold treatment.
Szczesny moving on would have been giving up on a player who we all know to possess bags of potential but who seems limited by his own inflated ego at times. A loan move for Szczesny is the perfect outcome.
It allows Ospina to not just have been a one season footnote and possibly move on next summer if he is struggling with being a no.2, and it may broaden Szczesny’s horizons a bit allowing him to appreciate what he has at Arsenal.
I’ve often said I find Wojciech to be quite a moody player moving in perpetuity from one of the best keepers in the league to ego-caused liability. Perhaps a reason of that has been a real lack of competition, a player who would likely keep their place even if they made an error.
Had Ospina dropped an Almunia-esque clanger during his time between the posts, Wojciech could have been back in the team for the next game. That didn’t materialise though and is even less likely to happen with Cech.
Szczesny can learn so much from the Czech custodian but delaying his education by one year isn’t going to stop him from learning. Much like a student travelling on their gap year than just heading straight into the classroom, time abroad for Szczesny might help him to sort himself out and improve his willingness to learn
Why moving to Roma could be a game changer for Szczesny
The loan to Roma could help him appreciate what an incredible opportunity he has to play at one of the world’s biggest clubs in arguably the best league. Were Szczesny to continue on his current path would he find himself at Arsenal for much longer?
Continuing to play is important but just as vital is his openness to learning from Cech which would be increased if he comes back fresh from a season abroad with a year’s worth of brilliant Cech performances throwing down the gauntlet.
Wojciech will find it hard displacing Cech if he immediately plays the role of backup. He will have little opportunity to prove he can be as good as or better than the incumbent he could find himself waiting for years – if he is patient enough – to eventually play once Petr retires. In that scenario, he has become number 1 by default and once again has never really earned his place. Could we be back at square one?
Arsenal were afforded the opportunity to sign Cech because he found himself sidelined by one of the world’s best goalkeepers in Thibaut Courtois but had the Belgian international been a long term number 2, would that have been the case?
Szczesny’s loan to Roma could help him fine tune his mentality and return to oust Cech from between the sticks just as Courtois’ loan enabled him to demonstrate his worthiness to Chelsea on more than just longevity.
The winner from this loan, regardless of how it plays out, will be Arsenal. The Gunners will either stop wasting time on a player unable to reach his early promise or will welcome back a player with a renewed desire to prove himself. He will then be eager to learn from one of the best keepers in Premier League history and with the tools required to become the Arsenal great he has so often been tipped to be.
