Wojciech Szczesny is finally set to complete his move to AS Roma on a year-long loan deal without any option to make the deal permanent, according to reports in the Express.
The 26-year old spent last season on loan with the Italian side after losing his starting spot at Arsenal following the arrival of Petr Cech from Chelsea.
The loan move is the second of Szczesny’s career, after he also spent a season at Championship side Brentford in the 2009/2010 season. The lanky shot-stopper made 34 appearances keeping eight clean sheets in Italy.
Reports in Gazzetta dello Sport claim that the Poland international has landed in Roma and is expected to complete his medical, The deal will be done within the next 24 hours.
It further states that the deal was being stalled over the past few weeks due to Szczesny’s wages, which the Emirates club were refusing to subsidise. The Italian have reportedly agreed to cover his £46,000-a-week earnings while also paying £840,000 loan fee to Arsenal.
The deal doesn’t include the buy-out clause as reports stated earlier. After landing in Roma, Football Italia has quoted Szczesny saying:
“Forza Roma”.
“I’m fine, and I’m happy to be back.”
Here are the pictures.
https://twitter.com/Arsenal_MI/status/761146262263566336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Szczesny, 26, had previously been Arsene Wenger’s first-choice goalkeeper at Arsenal, but the arrivals of David Ospina and Petr Cech combined with Szczesny’s consistently indifferent form and poor off-field behavior resulted in the Polish international dropping drown to third choice in the pecking order, leaving the club on loan during the 2015-16 season on loan to Roma.
He joined Arsenal’s youth set-up in 2006, and has since made 132 Premier League appearances for the North London club since making his league debut during the 2010-11 season.
It is such a hard sight for the fans to see a young prospect leave on loan because of his attitude coupled with some foolish mistakes. He shared the Golden Glove with Petr Cech in the 2013/14 season, which shows there was never an issue with his talent but it’s his off-field activities that have often let him down. It has been the opinion of several fans and football commentators that the Polish stopper is in no way a better understudy to Petr Cech than David Ospina. However, Cech is turning 34 this year, while David Ospina, who is first choice keeper for Colombia is not so happy playing second fiddle, so he might seek a move away this summer.
