Szczesny: Leaving Arsenal the best thing that happened to me

Wojciech Szczesny believes leaving Arsenal was the ‘greatest decision of his career’ and has thanked Roma for allowing him to ‘grow’ as a goalkeeper.

The Pole, often maligned during his time in the Premier League at Arsenal, has restored his reputation on the back of a successful two-year loan stint with the Serie A giants.

But with his loan deal with the Giallorossi set to expire once again, the player’s future is once again under the spotlight.

Whatever next though, Szczesny believes his game has developed following his decision to leave Arsenal.

“I could have stayed in an environment that was going negatively for me. Instead the opportunity that came gave me a fresh start,” Szczesny told The Guardian.

“You get a new perspective. You get new coaches and influences. You learn new drills. You do new things. Now I am very happy that it happened, even if the first impression was that I might be out of Arsenal, which was very painful. Now I think it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me.”

Szczesny feels he’s currently in the best form of his career and whatever happens next, he wants to ensure he continues to develop.

“The one thing I want to do is make sure I don’t stay still… I was quite still for five years – sometimes I played better, sometimes worse, sometimes phenomenal, sometimes rubbish,” Szczesny added.

“You take steps forwards and backwards. It is not very good for your head if you go up and down and up and down. I want to try to keep going up, with my quality and with my decisions that I make.

‘I am 27, the best I have ever been, I still have room to improve and I want to make sure that room doesn’t stay empty. I want to go into that room. It feels like a big moment.”

Speaking of his time with Roma, the Poland keeper continued: ‘The biggest thing I have taken away from these two years at Roma is the fact I grew as a goalkeeper. It’s just raising your levels, your standards. I absorbed a bigger knowledge of football, the tactical side of the game.

“You don’t see me with that rush of blood that I used to have as a younger keeper. It’s not that I don’t feel that rush of blood but tactically you are more aware of when to be involved, when to let the defenders recover.”