Arsenal have opened negotiations with Wojciech Szczęsny over a new contract, according to respected Polish news agency Sport.pl.
Szczęsny, who’s current contract expires in July, shone in last night’s Carling Cup win over Newcastle United, earning mass applause. Talks had previously stalled over an extension, but the club are believed to have proposed fresh terms of a 5 year deal which would also includes a 20% rise in wages.
Wojciech spoke to Sport.pl after the game. In his usual determined manner, the 20-year-old admitted he is keen to take all his chances and prove he is as good as he says he is.
“One good game does not make me a great goalkeeper, as a poor performance that crossed me. I rarely get a chance, so I try to make the most of it.”
“I look forward to further performances to prove that it was no accident. I hope to keep a place in the League Cup side.”
Negotiations are expected to be concluded before January.
YES!!!!
That is all.
Well said Wojciech! He has his feet on the ground.
Sport.pl isn’t really that reliable source. They write a lot of BS too – linked us to Boruc many times, and when he moved to Fiorentina they claimed that Frey to Arsenal is a done deal…
Fingers crossed we can get him to stay. Fabinski has stepped up and Szczensy is right one good game doesnt make a great GK. I think the fact he knows this and has great natural ability will make he a class GK I really hope this is at Arsenal.
What I loved last night was this kid bossing the players when we had to defend. He has good authority in the box, is brave,can catch crosses with easy not to mention a great save from Smith.
Great post! This is a good boost! Hopefully, he doesn’t go the way of Flamini!
With him and Fabianski in goal now, I suddenly don’t have a panic attack when we are attacked! Although, I felt more assured with Szczęsny in goal last night than I have been since Lehmann left.
Very good news. I don’t think I would’ve been able to sleep again, if he didn’t sign a new contract. Letting him go would be one of the biggest mistakes ever made in football history.
Here’s a video of his performance yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCpbK9rAy0A
Fantastic news! I never thought he would leave, he was just becoming impatient with the situation.
I imagine Almunia will be off in the summer now that Fabianski is fulfilling his potential, making Szczesny no.2.
All of a sudden we might just have two top class goalkeepers for years to come, when 3 months ago we had none.
@Wrenny “Wenger knows”? hmmm
Wenger always knows!
Twice saw him play at Brentford last season and according to the fans there he was outstanding and was the sole reason they had a mid-table finish. Head and shoulders above the other three squad goalkeepers at Arsenal in ability, distribution, confidence and command of the area. It will be a crying shame if the boss does not recognize this and lets the young Pole move on. Please get his signature on a new contract asap.
Arsenal have got it right now, he looks fantastic when he goal keeping, he has a great future and for me Fabianski no1 and he should be no2. I think these two youngs showed that Arsenal dosn’t need any goalkeeper when the transfer market opens in january.. Well done both of you
He is the one and only and he plays for Arsenal!
Sign him up!
he has got as much to loose as Arsenal on not signing: it is not easy to play urself up from lower placed league side to be bought again by a top side, there are several examples to prove that, mostly because of added pressure at top sides…look how long it took for a reputed keeper like van der sar
thank the lord for that!!! Think he will be our carling cup keeper for what its worth too.
Certainly is good news.
Was expecting a 6 yr deal, we seem to have a thing about giving our top young guns them??
J you are the man if it is about youth and promising young players. Keep up the great work you do!!! Chezzer will be world GK of the year. His commanding of the box is certainly better like De Gea`s!!
Stringfellow Hawke you said so this noon. Didnt expect it that fast.
Last night was only thr 3rd time I have seen Szczesny play, so I can’t judge him right now, but i have liked what i have seen so far!! Even in the legia match where he gave up like 3 goals, he never stopped fighting and I really took note of that. I don’t really remember if one or two of the goals were his fault, but that is kinda beside the point.
I think he’ll stay.Nice job J.
I ain’t too sure about the money but 20% payrise to be bonded with 5 years contract sounds too little for a world class player..
but for sure, he and Fabianski are good friends, if both players are willing to take turns, it will be good for arsenal!
World Class player?? Bloody hell stop hyping him up. He looked good even though he made two mistakes. He could have been sent off in the first half mate.
He definetly has the talent but he needs another loan spell imo till the end of the season.
Best new I’ve heard in a long time, absolutely amazing keeper.
We definitely need to make him sign on the dotted line. He’s got something in him that not many keepers in this world have – balls & confidence.
I’m not saying we should start him this weekend but playing him in the CC/FA Cup will do wonders for Woji(too long to spell ha). He has the height, agility, commanding presence and bravery to become a great keeper. A confident keeper becomes a domino effect to the rest of the team. They thrive on knowing the last man back there is quality and will step up if needed.
amazing news j
i hope he renew his contract as quickly as can
JS does the mark randall situation remind you of ryan garry? Arsene wenger had ryan garry at 23 but injuries just ruined him not sure wheres hes at now
I am getting concearned with kieran gibbs he seems to pick up alot of injuries. Reminds me of what happened to ryan garry
Ryan garry was a brilliant full back looked better than ashley cole but sadly got too many injuries. I hope tghe same doesnt happen to gibbs
Honestly Szczesny is miles better than any of are other keeper. I will give Fabianski his props on a few good games but I just don’t see the point in messing around with this keeper situation anymore. We have a true world class keeper and we all know that. Once he signs his contract get him in there.
It’s over-excited fools like this who will wreck a player like Szczesny with their completely unrealistic expectations.
It was ONE game, in the Carling Cup, in which he made some great saves but also made mistakes.
Fabianski has been superb for weeks at the very highest level, his last performance at Man City was world class. Szczesny has some way to go to match him.
What are you talking about moron. It does not take a genius to see obvious talent. It is like watching David De Gea and saying he is not a top talent. He made a mistake that is caused by lack of playing time which I have said plus he really had no choice but to come out anyways or it would have been a 1 v 1. As a keeper, you can see the difference in Szczesny and Fabianski. All keepers know this…Fabianski is a keeper that makes simple saves look spectacular. That is why he looks so impressive to normal football fans. When he has shots right at him and he makes a spectacular save, goal keeper know that is just BS. Honestly most of Fabs saves have been of that variety. I still think he is a good goal keeper but not the same level as Szczesny.
I have a saying… “Good keepers save the ones they should save…Great keepers save the ones they shouldn’t save”. Szczesny is a keeper that clearly does the latter.
By the way, i have seen him play more than once but it does not take long to realize if a player is good or not. Quality is quality and that goes no where. Yes the mentality of a person is something you have to look at over a longer period of time and that part is impossible to no unless we are around him often so I would never be able to judge that part anyways but as far a talent goes…stevie wonder would be able to see that Szczesny is a top talent.
He hasnt proved anything yet apart from the fact that he looked good at brentfood. He looks like a great talent but I havent been impressed with his performances against legia and newcastle. The freekick he saved was definetly poor goalkeeping.
To be honest, I have been watching him played with Brentford, Arsenal and the reserves at all times.
I truly think he is the best young goalkeeper I ever seen. He should be better than Alumunia and Fabandski because of his confident, body build, charisma and energy.
I have no doubt that he should play in the first team.
JamesBond…how was the freekick save bad keeping? This is what I mean by people that have never played keeper not understanding it. How many people save Ryan Taylor freekicks?
Also did you miss this amazing save?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwlTclvI92o
Jamspond…. also you don’t have to weight until a player whens the world player of the year to tell if he is good or not. He can only “prove” his long term success by playing. You can still see that he is a top keeper though. You don’t have to watch a guy for 10 years to tell if he is good or not.
Jamespond… Here are some saves which you have probably already seen but these are great saves no matter what league you are playing in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vV7caRLDrw&feature=related
I also thought that punch out of the newcastle corner by Szczesny looked like a message lol. He punched that ball out to almost half field like he was saying this is to easy. Our other keepers make those things look so difficult.
It was a bad save the way he brought the ball straight infront of our goal.
Lol Ryan Taylor he´s a awful player. I have played in goal before and it was an easy save. The save from smiths shot was incredible i agree.
Ches is a world class talent and i love his attitude no doubt but he´s not as good yet as some people say. If Almunia would have let ranger pass him that way and saved the free kick that way he would be destroyed. We are not in a position that we can give him enough game time he should go on loan till the end of the season. There is no point in letting sit on the bench.
I did not say Ryan Taylor was a great player but he is a great free kick taker. That was an easy save? Do realize how late you see those free kicks and how fast they are coming? You are nit picking on the fact that the ball bounced a certain way off his hand. Maybe you just need to watch it again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy3W8PN9-xw …. it is at 2:30.
Almunia would have not been slated for making a great save on a pk and he was never slated for one mistake. He is slated for a whole lot of mistakes.
Like I said, that Ranger thing would have happened to most keepers. What did you want him to do? Stay on his line? Let a 1 v 1 in?
I love nit pickers. The dude makes a whole lot more top saves than mistakes. He now has 2 clean sheets in 2 Arsenal games and people still cry. Why don’t we wait until he gets scored on before we say he is not ready.
I just had a sense of deja vu with this and the Merida situation last season. I recall speculation was rife that Merida was going to sign a new contract; we know what happened from there. Let’s not celebrate prematurely…
Btw, I feel congrats are in order after Merida scored his first goal for Atletico Madrid this week. I’m still disconsolate that we lost him – a precocious talent.
mr wenger should x2 the wages and start him
How the fates toy with our lives! A few inches must have separated Ranger’s and Woijech’s legs, and had the Newcastle player gone down, the match would have been over for Szczesny and Fab would have been on.
Even so, you get the feeling with Woijech, that his mental strength would have enabled him to brush off such a twist of fortune. He looks to have Schmeichel-esque confidence levels, to go along with Joe Hart’s careless disregard of the deference normally associated with his tender years, when organising his more senior colleagues.
You all should see the positives. J. said already Chezzer is ready so I trust him. No loan spell needed anymore!!!
I will be very happy if Szczęsny and fabianski fight for number one and we let big al go in january.
Right now Fabianski is number one as he won it with excellent performance even so he was one of the worst GK in EPL and Arsenal history according to some of you and some arsenal blog.
Szczęsny have a good match with some great save but 1-2 error that fabianski would have been crucified for.He should get league cup,few FA cup and maybe champions league (the last 2 match if we are qualified)
Well its official!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-deal-on-the-table-for-szczesny
But this echos so much of last year.
In fact on the exact same date last year we had this:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/merida-i-hope-to-get-a-new-arsenal-contract
and then
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-merida-deal-ready-to-be-signed
and we all know how that turned out.
F**k giving him a 20% salary rise, what is he on now? 20,000 a year? give him a 50% salary rise. Just most of all make sure he stays!!
To be fair the Merida situation was slightly different.
He had many players in front of him including 2 (Wilshere and Ramsey) and maybe even 3 (Lansbury) youngsters. He would have found it very hard to break into this team no matter how talented he was. I feel the three I mention above are all more talented than he was and he knew it.
Szczesny has only Fabianski ahead of him and if he puts in the performances will usurp him as soon as he gets an injury.
I think Szczesny knows this and his confidence is such that he will be up for the fight. I think he will sign a new contract
And Merida has been absolutely abysmal for Atletico this year; the Atleti coach recently described how deeply disappointed he was by his performances. It is Arsenal who makes the player, not the other way around.
Szczesny has yet to play against top class opposition, so all of this hoo-hah from fools who have barely seen a handful of his games is quite hilarious. The likes of Nile Ranger and Ryan Taylor are nothing compared to Didier Drogba or Kaka; that’s what you have to rate him against. And what about before the Carling Cup? We’re talking about teams like Wallsall and Yeovil. Yeah, great opposition. There is something called consistency and performances in “important matches” which you might want to take a look at before going on stupid predictions of glory. Boy am I happy you have nothing to do with running Arsenal.