Goalkeeper keen to fight to keep his place.
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Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has said that he would welcome competition in his position at the club and has no intention on moving on, Sky Sports reports.
Manager Arsene Wenger has been largely tipped to make a move for another goalkeeper this summer with QPR’s Julio Cesar said to be amongst his top targets.
Wenger’s reported search for a new custodian has understandably cast a doubt over the 23-year-old’s future at the club after being ousted as the club’s first choice stopper by Lukasz Fabianski halfway through the season, though he managed to win his spot back toward the end of the campaign.
However, he has stated that he is prepared to fight to keep his place in the team and will welcome the competition, believing it will make him a better player in the long run that will spur him on to deliver his best form rather than drive him out of the club elsewhere.
“Even if the boss was to make a big signing in goal, I would do my very best to compete for the number one spot. I’d do my best whatever my position,” he told the Guardian.
“The club is in my heart and I wouldn’t be thinking about going elsewhere. My head is pretty clear when it comes to that.
“You have to deal with the competition. I think that the competition from Lukasz when he was fit was pretty tough and I enjoyed it. It can only bring the best out of me.
“My confidence never gets crushed. Whatever happens, my attitude doesn’t change. I still try my best in training. I want to make sure I’m in the best shape possible.
“Whether someone comes in, it’s not my decision and it won’t affect me in any way. There is the same talk every year. I think the manager has shown enough faith in me to make me feel confident in my own abilities. So it doesn’t affect me.”
The Polish international was dropped from the squad for a five game spell in March for his compatriot Fabianksi,and draw criticism from his manager in the process. But he bounced back with a string of fine performances late on, and he has said that the experience will make him a stronger player.
“There’s not a single goalkeeper in the world that goes through a season without a little dip. You wish that any dip is not long and big but you have to learn how to deal with disappointments and it never really affected my attitude.
“You’d hope that I could go through the whole season the way I finished last season, but you cannot go through a season without any mistakes so it’s how you deal with it and I think I’ve learned how to deal with mistakes. I’m hoping there will be less and less with each season.
“You can play for a smaller club, make a mistake and no-one will really highlight it but when you play for a big club, whatever you do is going to be in the papers. People are going to question you but it’s not really a problem for me.”