Arsenal’s FA Cup winning goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has, without signing a new contract, committed his future to the Gunners.
The Polish ‘keeper has been at the club since signing from Legia Warsaw nine years ago and has since gone on to have a very up and down career in between the sticks. At only 25 years-old, Szczesny has age on his side, but needs to ensure that his discipline can be turned around, with off the field mistakes leading him to be dropped.
On 1st January, Szczesny made two costly errors that led to the impressive Southampton taking a 2-0 win away from St. Mary’s, but it was after the game that brought the Pole’s Arsenal future into disrepute, with reports that the shot stopper sneaked cigarettes into the Arsenal showers and was caught smoking; much to the disappointment of Manager Arsene Wenger.
This led to David Ospina being brought into the fold and since doing so, the Colombian has not relinquished his place in the team for Premier League and UEFA Champions League matches.
However, Szczesny remained a key component in the run up to the FA Cup triumph and was given the nod by Arsene Wenger to start in the final at Wembley; a game that saw Arsenal win convincingly and Szczesny keep a clean sheet.
Since the victory, Szczesny has sat down and discussed his delight at being chosen for the final and his love of both Wenger and Arsenal.
“Speaking honestly, it hasn’t been quite as awful a time for me as it might have seemed from the outside.
“I’ve got a really good relationship with the boys in the squad as well as with the boss.
“I fully accept the boss’ decisions, whatever they may be. Of course, it’s understandable that your pride feels hurt and your ambition dented. That’s only natural and to be expected.
“But I got my chance today [Saturday] and I’m really grateful to the boss for that. I believe that I took my chance well, or as well as I could, since I kept a clean sheet, even if the way the game went I didn’t honestly have too many situations to avoid letting the team down.
“I concentrated on demonstrating calmness and authority as the basis for our defensive set-up. I think it worked well from that perspective.
“Hopefully our defensive solidity was one of the reasons why they were unable to really test us too much during the match. To have come through such a challenge leaves you with a really special feeling of satisfaction, and so I’m very grateful to the manager for selecting me to play this time.
“People love to speculate and people love to gossip a bit. But I love this club and I don’t want to ever leave it.”
