Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny will become a club legend one day.
The Polish shot-stopper, who is only 23-years-old, has already made over 100 appearances for The Gunners and on Tuesday night, he kept his 50th clean sheet at the club, becoming the 11th ‘keeper to do so.
Szczesny’s career at the North London club has had many ups-and-downs, but it could have been so different early on when he was involved in a training incident in the club’s gym.
As a teenager, the Polish goalkeeper broke both of his arms doing weights and his future was in jeopardy, but after getting two metal plates put into his arms, he managed to overcome the incident and has now developed into the club’s number one.
Speaking to the club’s official website, Wenger admitted that one day, Szczesny will become a club great.
“Yes, he can be one of the best,” the manager told Arsenal Player. “You have to question a little bit the defenders as well [when you consider clean sheet stats] because you’re part of a team and sometimes too many individual stats can lead you to conclusions that are not as obvious as that.
“But what I am sure is that he has the potential to be a historical goalkeeper for Arsenal Football Club. That will depend on how much he will continue to focus, to have the desire to be better, to have the desire to put the hard work in.
“If you look around at different clubs you see how quickly a goalkeeper can lose confidence, how quickly a goalkeeper can lose all his qualities. The level of urgency in this position has to be absolutely 100 per cent.
“He is a very young man. I personally believe his composure is better, his reading of the game is better, his level of concentration is much stronger and that comes out with his numbers. He is still a very young goalkeeper because he’s at an age where other goalkeepers start to play.
“He has already a vast experience. That’s why I think it’s very good news for the Club that he has extended his contract. But rightly so as well because this Club has given him a huge chance at a very young age – and that is not common at in the top, top clubs.
“I would like to give credit to our education system as well because he has been educated here, he has been given a chance here so that is quite faithful to the values that we have at our club. You speak of Wilshere, you speak of Ramsey and I think they are together exactly the same.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
