Former Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was offered the chance to return to the North London club this summer.
Wojciech Szczesny announced his retirement from professional football recently after Juventus terminated his contract. The 34-year-old Polish goalkeeper has now revealed that Arsenal wanted to sign him on a free transfer, but he chose to turn down the offer.
“Sentiment kicked in, and I was open to talks with Arsenal out of respect for the club,” Szczesny said Meczyki on YouTube. “But I knew it wasn’t for me. It was all about logistics. Something very significant would have to happen for this move to happen.
“I didn’t start talks with anyone, not even with Mikel,” the goalkeeper addeded before continuing, “I could have made a phone call and reached an agreement. The Arsenal option came up before I terminated my contract with Juventus. I said; ‘OK, we can talk.’ But, two days, later I said it didn’t make much sense.”
Arsenal needed to bring in a quality backup goalkeeper after the departure of Aaron Ramsdale. David Raya is the first-choice keeper at the club, but they cannot hope to head into a new season with just one reliable goalkeeper at their disposal. They wanted to bring the 34-year-old back to the club. He knows the Premier League well, and he could have settled in quickly and his experience would have been invaluable for them.
However, the former Poland international was not keen on a return to the Premier League, and Arsenal ended up signing Neto from Bournemouth on loan for the remainder of the 2024/25 season.
Szczesny was a quality performer for Arsenal during his time at the club, and he did quite well at Juventus over the years as well. Even though he has retired prematurely, the 34-year-old was still good enough to compete at the highest level, and he would have been a quality acquisition for Arsenal on a bargain.
It will be interesting to see if the Brazilian goalkeeper Neto can impress at Arsenal this season. He will hope for game time in the cup competitions. The 35-year-old has shown his quality with the Cherries in recent seasons, and he is certainly good enough to be a back up goalkeeper at Arsenal. Meanwhile, Ramsdale will look to get his career back on track with regular football at Southampton now.
