Wojciech Szczesny says there’s ‘no shame’ in playing backup to a goalkeeper like Gianluigi Buffon, and he hopes to play for Juventus for the next 10 years.

After two years on loan from Arsenal at Roma, Szczesny made the switch to Italy permanent this summer, joining Juventus.

Considering how well the goalkeeper performed on his loan spells, most fans assumed Arsenal would recall him. Unfortunately, Arsene Wenger decided to stick with his current options instead.

Szczesny is delighted with how things have turned out and who can blame him?

He told Rai Sport, “When Juve call you, you have no choice. We’re talking about one of the three-four best clubs in Europe, so the choice was easy.”

“There’s no shame in playing second fiddle to him (Buffon), knowing I’ll then have the opportunity to become the starting goalkeeper.

“The choice I made is a test of my humility. I made it for the next 10 years in mind. I’m already playing with a good level of consistency, so I’m really happy.

“I like stability in life, so I see myself here in 10 years.”

Looking at Buffon’s career with Juventus, Szczesny could well stay at the club for many years. The Italian joined in 2001, and is now 39 years old. 17 years and he’s still starting matches for the same team.

If Szczesny stayed until the age of 39, he’d be with the Italian Champions for another 12 years. Aiming for 10 doesn’t even seem that ambitious by comparison.

To me, these latest comments from the former Gunner continue to raise questions about why Arsenal didn’t take him back.

This is a top goalkeeper, one who has four clean sheets in his last five starts and was voted player of the month for December by the Juventus fans. A goalkeeper who was willing to spend another season as a back-up, if it meant a starting role later on.

That sounds like exactly what Wenger’s squad needs.

Instead they have Čech, a great goalkeeper slowly edging towards retirement, and Ospina, a decent shot-stopper who gives away a goal every other game.

Realistically, neither should have any chance of being Arsenal’s number one for the next five years, let alone 10.

Now the Gunners have to go and find someone exactly like Szczesny.