With Wojciech Szczesny looking set to complete a permanent move to Italy this summer and David Ospina signing for Fenerbahce, should Sunderland’s Jordan Pickford bite the bullet and take his chances at Arsenal?
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Arsenal were previously linked with Pickford before the 2016/17 season ended. However, Everton were in pole position to sign the 23-year-old, who made 33 appearances for Sunderland last term before they were relegated.
What’s more is that Pickford appeared to want to stay with the Black Cats. He was a local boy and had no desire to move.
However, now that his boyhood team have been relegated and therefore may need the money, the Englishman probably doesn’t get much of a say in the matter.
Now that Woj’s return to north London after his two years on loan at Roma seems unlikely and Ospina is set to complete his move to Fenerbahce, the Gunners are once again reportedly looking at signing Pickford as a back-up goalkeeper.
The issue is, will it be worth it for the player?
Without Woj and Ospina in the way, he would be Arsenal’s second choice shot-stopper behind 35-year-old Petr Cech.
This means that he’ll most likely miss out on the 38 Premier League games a season unless Cech gets injured and only be picked for Europa League, EFL Cup and FA Cup, which is only a handful of games.
On the flip side, he gets to learn from one of the former best goalkeepers in the world and play in Europe. It might be worth the gamble if he wants to develop his career at the top level.