After a successful Barclays Asia Trophy in Singapore the Gunners returned to London earlier this week to play in the Emirates cup which started yesterday. The squad looked good ahead of the Emirates cup and it was well reflected by the team’s performance versus French club Olympique Lyon in their 6-0 win yesterday.
This means that the competition for places will only get tougher in the coming season. Players like Lukas Podolski, Abou Diaby, Ryo Miyaichi and Semi Ajayi have left the club permanently fearing the competition in the team and others like Carl Jenkinson and Yaya Sanogo have left the club on loan in order to get more gametime. Two more players look set to leave the club now, one looking to leave permanently due to less gametime and the other looking to leave on loan to develop himself into a world class talent. The two players are French midfielder Mathieu Flamini and Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny respectively.
Experienced midfielder Flamini has gone down the pecking order ever since fellow countryman and youngster Francis Coquelin rose to prominence in the second half of last season. With Arteta before him in the line and the possibility of a new defensive midfielder arriving Flamini might not even get a few cup games in the coming season. Hence it would be right for the player as well as the club to part ways amicably this transfer window.
Turkish club Galatasaray confirmed earlier this week that they had contacted Arsenal over a possible deal for Flamini as Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo looks set to join Italian club Inter Milan. Flamini could fill the void left by Melo at Galatasaray. With Podolski also having joined the Turkish champs earlier this month from Arsenal, Flamini will have some company at the Istanbul club if he joins. Hence Flamini being linked with Galatasaray makes all the sense. The 31-year old midfielder might become a Galatasary player in the next few days. So let us wait and see what happens.
On the other hand Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny looks set to join Italian club AS Roma on a one-year loan deal. With the arrival of Czech No.1 Petr Cech from fellow title rivals Chelsea and impressive performances from Colombian No.1 David Ospina in the last year and a half Szczesny’s gametime would massively decrease in the coming season. Ospina looked close to joining Turkish club Fenerbahce towards the end of last month but since the beginning of this month all those rumours have slowly disappeared and Ospina looks set to stay at the Emirates for atleast one more season.
Hence it would wise enough for Szczesny to move elsewhere in search of more gametime. Wenger clearly stated at the beginning of this transfer window that Szczesny will stay at Arsenal for many more years to come. Hence if he were to leave Arsenal it would only be on a loan deal. Roma’s sporting director Walter Sabatini is in England now to complete deals for Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko and Chelsea winger Mohammad Salah. Meanwhile he also wants someone to compete with their current No.1 Morgan de Sanctis. Hence he has approached Arsenal over a possible loan deal for Szczesny with no option to buy at the end of the deal.
Wenger has reportedly given the go-ahead for this move and Szczesny could very well be on his way to Rome for the coming season. This loan experience will help the 25-year old gunner to improve and come back as a better player. Let us hope that he shines at AS Roma.
