On Monday afternoon, Arsenal confirmed the signing of Petr Cech from London rivals Chelsea, and whilst the reaction to the deal has generally been positive, manager Arsene Wenger has now been accused of being dishonest to one of Cech’s new teammates.
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Former Poland goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski has claimed the Gunners boss promised Wojciech Szczesny that he would be restored as the number one goalkeeper next season should he impress in training.
Szczesny lost his place to David Ospina in the starting XI after an error-strewn performance in the 2-0 defeat by Southampton on New Year’s Day.
As punishment for that poor display, he was relegated to being the club’s cup competition keeper, where he stayed in goal all the way to the FA Cup final where he kept a clean sheet in the victory against Aston Villa.
It was after that game where Szczesny was under the impression he would be staying for ‘good’ and, according to Tomaszewski, the Polish stopper was unaware that Cech would be arriving at the Emirates Stadium this summer:
“In January I spoke to [Poland manager] Adam Nawalka and he said that Arsene Wenger had told him that if Szczesny worked hard in training he would play again soon,” Tomaszewski told Polish publication Przeglad [via the Mirror Sport].
“It turned out that he didn’t tell the truth. I’m sure that when Szczesny said that he was going to stay at Arsenal, he didn’t know that Cech was going to come because Wenger didn’t tell him about his plans. Szczesny should leave, because it will be waste of time for him, if he stays,” he added.
However, Szczesny did appear to welcome the addition of the Czech Republic international and hinted that he would be prepared to accept a backup role next season in a post on his official Facebook account.
The Gunners fans have also welcomed the keeper with open arms, according to the Mirror.