Szczesny bemoans lack of technical improvement at Arsenal
Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has insisted that during his spell at Arsenal, he barely improved his technical quality as a goalkeeper.
As quoted by Sky Sports, the Polish international discussed his move to Juventus, which was tied up in the summer, and reflected on his time at the Emirates.
Honestly, I couldn’t say from a technical standpoint that I improved in any way from when I became first choice at Arsenal until the day I left for Roma. However, in the two-and-a-half years since I came to Italy I’ve improved massively, which is thanks to the coaches and the way they work.
It’s not about improving when you play, it’s every day in training you have to work on every aspect of your game and that’s something I’ve really enjoyed.
Szczesny was never an established first choice under Arsene Wenger and failed to find his feet in the first-team, seeing him suffer a difficult spell at the club.
I think in general, the coaches in Italy are much more tactical, that’s just how the league works. At Arsenal you’d just prepare physically for it but here you watch films analysing a specific opponent before the game and afterwards we’ll watch again to see what worked and what didn’t.
He found himself in revitalised form during a loan spell with Roma, and this saw Juventus take a keen interest in him to act as an understudy to veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
I enjoyed working with some great coaches at Arsenal, Roma and here, but the goalkeeping school in Italy is very different – it’s very technical and pays more attention to the details.
Arsenal are well stocked with goalkeeping options, with Petr Cech and David Ospina at their disposal at the moment.
Accepting that my time with Arsenal was over was difficult because I never imagined leaving.
I supported them as a kid and I got to play for the club of my dreams, but life goes on. It was the right thing for me and both clubs and, while one side of me found it difficult to say it was over, the other said let’s just get it done.
Szczesny spent a total of 10 years at Arsenal, and appears to now be enjoying his time in Italy with Juventus, where he is improving his game technically.