Thank God for our FA Cup Final! If the season had already ended for us, we would have struggled to survive the heated transfer rumours. For some people, football has become a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest in a way that the transfer window has been more interesting than the actual football…just like voting is far more captivating than the actual dreadful songs.
It seems that there is a consensus among Gooners that a goalkeeper, a defensive midfielder and a winger/striker should be on Wenger’s shopping-list this summer. We all have a specific wish-list for players Arsene Wenger ‘must’ buy, of course.
But we should start with the keepers…
The current trio…
Wojciech Szczesny has been out in the cold since the very beginning of 2015. He has featured in FA Cup matches against Brighton & Hove Albion, Middlesbrough, Manchester United and Reading but hasn’t been too impressive in the aforementioned fixtures. The fact he has been around for a long time makes it easy to forget he is just 25 though – goalkeepers usually reach their peak between 31 and 36. After his father had thrown silly statements about the whole Arsenal defence, particularly Per Mertesacker (via theguardian.com), Wojciech hasn’t reacted in the same manner as he did two years ago when his father had criticised Arsene Wenger (via bbc.com) and it’s not a good sign. Mertesacker is someone who is regarded as a leader among the pack and a leader of our defence with whom the Pole has to build the best relationship on the pitch. I have always thought Szczesny would be our goalkeeper for at least a decade but I wouldn’t bet on that right now.
David Ospina has seized the opportunity and made the proverbial No. 1 shirt his own. Still, a lot of Gooners believe that we need a world-class goalkeeper. His handling has been poor lately but he is still far, far away from being a liability in the mould of Manuel Almunia.
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Emiliano Martinez has had a few impressive performances for Arsenal (most notably against Borussia Dortmund at the Emirates) before he was sent on loan to Rotherham. The Argentinian keeper is far from being a finished article – as seen at Britannia Stadium – but his frame and reflexes might make him a viable option one day, just like Arsene Wenger implied earlier this month (via dailystar.co.uk).
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