Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is taking young Dutch keeper Guy Smit of NEC Nimjegen on a trial, according to a report in The Mirror.
Smit, 20 who is out of contract with Eredivisie side NEC Nimjegen, and has attracted moderate attention from a few clubs in the championship. However, it is Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger that he is determined to impress. He has been quoted saying:
” This opportunity I have to seize”.
Arsenal are in the interim, beefed at the goal post with some top quality goal keepers. In Petr Cech, David Ospina and Wojiech Szczesny, (who is likely to go back to Roma), Arsenal have 3 full time international keepers contracted to them, something very few top English clubs can boast about. Cech, Ospina and Szczesny have all been first choice short stoppers for their respective national sides.
However, with several reports claiming Ospina’s possible departure ( We,needless to say, believe/ are hopeful/ confidant that this is only a rumor) and Szczesny almost certain to join Roma on a second goal spell, Arsenal would be left with Petr Cech as the only first team goal keeper. The most likely reason that Wenger and Arsenal have handed a trial to Smit, could be in the context of these scenarios possibly unfolding as we move deeper into the transfer market.
Coming back to Smit, who is he really? Even if he were to come to Arsenal, how likely is he going to feature in the first team, were he to come? And let’s not forget that the Gunners also have a 4th choice keeper in the form of Emiliano Martinez, who has thus far enjoyed a modest career for Arsenal.
Smit is 20 years old, and very little is known about his qualities, especially to fans of the premier league. He was in fact not a first choice keeper for the Eredivisie side, and it is unlikely he will even be a third choice keeper at Arsenal even if Ospina does leave.
That being said, there can only be a solid reason for Arsene Wenger to have considered him. It would be unwise to succumb to this tendency of writing players off even before one has seen them.
If Smit does impress Wenger, Emiliano Martinez’s career at Arsenal will undoubtedly come to an end (Not that we would be surprised if it did regardless!)
What do you make of Guy Smit?
