Woijech Szczesny has been giving some fighting talk ahead of the new season. He’s said Arsenal’s new £3million signing David Ospina is ‘not his friend’ and that he doesn’t care if he’s on the bench.
The 24-year-old Pole was asked about the competition from new signing Ospina and whether he felt pressured:
“I feel confident of being No1 but I know I can’t let myself play a few bad games,” he said.
“I know Ospina’s ambitions don’t end at sitting on the bench and clapping his hands while watching me play.”
That’s nice and confident words from Woijech, but then he gets a bit nasty. He continued:
“He is a nice guy. In a sporting sense, he is a suitable player at a suitable club. But it’s easier for me just in one aspect: I do not feel sorry for him. I do not think ‘he’s my friend’ as I thought about Fabian [Fabianski]. I was convinced Lukasz deserved to play but not at my expense.”
Is Szczesny saying he doesn’t feel like Ospina deserves to play? Perhaps he is threatened by Ospina’s arrival, or maybe he just doesn’t rate him at all? Anyway, let’s hope these words were not too spiteful and were said in jest. It’s not bad to have competition between the players, but hopefully they can get on. We don’t want the fantastic squad harmony disturbed.
In all honesty it probably looks a lot worse than the player intended. Szczesny, like most goalkeepers, is determined to play and keep his spot in the eleven. He doesn’t mind if that means not making new friends, and if his performances keep consistently to what they are now, do we?