Morning all.
I stumbled across an article in [The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7479898/2026/07/31/wojciech-szczesny-interview-barcelona-arsenal-smoking/) this morning which included an interview with our old goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. I always find it quite interesting to read what our ex players have to say after they’ve long left. Any bitterness they might have had at the time of departure has probably gone and it’s more likely that simple truth will be shared.
One often hears players say that “this was my boyhood club” when they move clubs but I’ve always tended to take such comments with a pinch of salt. After all, they are hardly likely to say they grew up hating that club are they? In the case of Szczesny, he really was and still is a big Arsenal fan.
> I suffered a lot (during) the Champions League final. But to win the Premier League after 22 years… It’s a big relief because I’ve waited for it for a very long time and I’m very happy they built a project of probably one of the best clubs in Europe.
> When I was there, we had one season when we were on top of the league for a very long time, and we lost in the end. I felt we were the best team in the league. But we were a very young, inexperienced team, and in the end, when it mattered, we fell short. It still hurts because it’s the one trophy that I haven’t won in professional football that I would have loved to win… winning the Premier League with Arsenal. It’s still bugging me from the inside, but as a fan I’m very happy about what happened this year.
> Arsenal is a place where I made my dream come true. Emotionally, it’s the maximum that I believe anybody can achieve: playing for the club of your dreams. I’ve achieved the dream. It’s the peak of your career. It’s a beautiful story, although I only won three trophies with Arsenal: two FA Cups and a Community Shield.
> It will probably always be the most beautiful part of my career. The one filled with the most passion. It was also the start of my career. I was very hungry, very determined to show people that I belong at that level.
The nearly season he talks about was 2013/14 of course. Top of the league table at Christmas, 4th at the end of May. Don’t look at the clubs transfer dealings for that campaign as it’ll give you nightmares. Yaya Sanogo arrived first, Mesut Ozil arrived last and in the January, Kim Kallstrom joined on loan. Thank goodness the days of those kind of deals, two of them anyway, are long over.
As for Szczesny, he came out of retirement when Barcelona came calling in October 2024 and he’s still plugging away there now although he’s second choice these days behind Joan Garcia.
A few final words from the once Polish number 1:
> It’s taken a long time to be able to play with almost no emotions on the pitch. I played for a club (Arsenal) at a very young age that I also supported as a fan, and that just took a lot out of me. Every time we won games, I cheered as a player but also as a fan — and when we lost, I was sad as a fan as well as a player. It was just a lot of emotions to deal with, and then you have to prepare for the next game in three days, and you’re kind of not ready for it.
> When I left the team, I found out that the best thing for me to perform at the best level is to be completely emotionally out of the game.
Maybe it’s not always best to play for the club you love…
Catch up in the comments.
