Well, as we all expected, it's gone through: https://www.arsenal.com/news/szczesny-joins-juventus
"Wojciech Szczesny has joined Italian champions Juventus for an undisclosed fee.
Wojciech has spent the last two seasons on loan in Serie A with Roma. He made a total of 72 league appearances for the Giallorossi, keeping a record 14 clean sheets last term.
The 27 year-old Poland international joined our academy as a teenager back in 2006. He went on to play 181 times for us in all competitions.
Among many highlights with Arsenal, Wojciech was joint-winner of the Golden Glove award in 2013/14 with Petr Cech.
We would like to thank Wojciech for his contribution to the club over the past 11 years, and to wish him every success in the future.
The deal is subject to the completion of regulatory processes"
Quite the rollercoaster little career he had with us from showing huge potential to moments like being caught smoking in the changing room. I had hoped that the extended loan spell away was an opportunity for him to grow up (and perhaps he has done) but for some reason I expected him to return, fulfill his potential and for Cech to mentor him into being his eventual replacement. Overall, I'm not too disappointed to see him go, perhaps it's for the best but I will remember him (fairly) fondly for some cracking saves he made and feel he was a bit unfortunate to be behind some of our weak defences and the turbulent times we've suffered in recent seasons.
Ospina has proven to be fairly reliable backup and is a decent shot-stopper but in reality, lacks the physicality to ever be the true #1 for any Premier League club (or at least any big one). Mainly I'm referring to his height which is a whole 13cm shorter than Cech and around 10cm shorter than Martinez. A very important attribute for a Goal Keeper especially in a very physical league with lots of clubs stacking their starting XI's with the Fellaini's of this world and playing Rugby; cough, Man Utd, Stoke, Man Utd. There were times when Ospina punched where Cech or Martinez would have simply caught it and kept the defense calm. I do expect Ospina to move on, there's still plenty of time and there's always at least a few clubs looking for a Goal Keeper. He's not a bad one either and has done himself proud (on the whole) at Arsenal so will leave behind a positive relationship with our fans.
Damian Martinez has impressed me nearly every time I've seen him over the past few years, I wasn't sure whether he had what it takes to be a top keeper but it's starting to look like he might. Pre-Season or not, a penalty shootout against Bayern Munich is a high-pressure situation and he looked calm, collected and played a big part in our eventual victory. I'm sure Cech must be helping in his development. I doubt it would surprise any of us if Cech gets injured at some point this season (Cech seems to pick up more niggles than most Goalkeepers but he's no spring chicken anymore either) and Martinez has a big opportunity to prove himself as our future #1.
This leaves us either to sign a new 3rd choice GK or push either Ryan Huddart, Deyan Iliev, Hugo Keto or Matt Macey into that 'backup-to-the-backup' role. If i had to pick one of these it would be Matt Macey but I'm not aware of their current Loan situations, no doubt some of them will be loaned out.
Szczesny Joins Juventus
posted on 20/7/17
Big mistake selling him for this fee unless there is a buy back clause in the contract. Saw a video of Woj's presser yesterday and he started welling up when Arsenal got mentioned. Really sad that things didn't work out for him here 😩
posted on 20/7/17
A player is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Its been widely reported we have been subsidizing woj's wages for years. The fee probably just covers that with a small profit.
posted on 20/7/17
Another one off the wages bill
posted on 20/7/17
I know its not much, but its okay, we keep on moving on anyway
posted on 20/7/17
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 2 hours, 24 minutes ago
And if he there to become number 1 longer term, that's a pretty poor replacement for the best keeper of his generation.
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Or another example of Arsenal's inability to develop potential into talent.
Arsenal's top 2 players, Ozil and Sanchez both learned their trade abroad.
Walcott, Ox, Ramsey, Gibbs, Szczesny and Chambers are all examples of wasted potential from a manager that made his name in nuturing youth
posted on 20/7/17
I think Szczesny is a criminally underrated goalkeeper especially by opposition fans.
He had saved us more points than people realise e.g. Liverpool and Sunderland games in 2013 I believe.
I think he has great potential and he is still young for a goalkeeper. I think at Juve he can develop into that world class keeper that I and many others have seen in him. He is definitely no where near Buffons league but perhaps Juve realise that in order to get a similar replacement they would have to pay big bucks or the other club just won't sell them. There are not many keepers of buffons quality available. They must see Szczesny as the next level down or have the potential to get into that level.
I think Szczesny has been the scapegoat for many poor defences in his Arsenal career. He has taken the blame and it harmed his time here. The 8-2 defeat was certainly the defences poor showing as most the goals Szczesny couldn't prevent.
posted on 20/7/17
Everyone gets better when they leave. Arsenal didn't loan him because of the 8-2. Woj had a crisis of confidence on the pitch. At one point almost all shots across him ended up as a goal. Just go and watch the Southampton game that pretty much sealed his fate. A goalkeeper must exude confidence to the defense. And woj never did that.
posted on 20/7/17
All of that is right apart from the never part. There was a time when he and was confident and his defense had confidence in him.
Woj had some great moments from us but had some real shockers. Think the league cup final vs Birmingham changed a lot for him. He looked like he would be a world beater after his first 3 months in the team but after the final it was too much hot and cold.
Still think he will become a quality keeper in time and that we should have put a buy back clause in place for when that time comes.
There's no guarantee that he will become Juve #1 though. They may well have just bought him so Roma couldn't have him.
posted on 20/7/17
There is a difference between bravado and self-belief. You only have to look at Joe Hart as a prime example. You can get away with lapses in the outfield. Just not at goalkeeper. Thats why very few teams like young keepers because they are always up and down. Manninger did well after he left us so all my criticism of woj at Arsenal doesn't mean he won't do well as he gets more experienced. But he was never going to make it at Arsenal after his first on-field crisis (after which he was dropped for Fabianski). He had to go after his second crisis.
posted on 20/7/17
They may well have just bought him so Roma couldn't have him.
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Yeah that's what I reckon too.