With David Ospina suddenly changing his mind over leaving Arsenal this summer, it stands to reason that the Gunners have made him a promise.
Ospina seemed adamant that, despite having two years left on his Arsenal deal, he was leaving this summer in search of regular football.
Last season, the goalkeeper only made 14 appearances across all competitions. Therefore, you can understand why, at the age of 28, that the Colombia international wanted to start a-new somewhere else.
However, it’s now August and Ospina is claiming that he wants to stay and ‘fight’ for a first team spot, which would mean that he’s once again going to be ‘battling’ against Petr Cech.
“I have a contract here, I’m happy and I’m going to fight to the end. I want to continue and win a job,” Ospina said.
“That’s what I’m working for, I’ve been working for three years and now I’m waiting for the opportunity.”
Even though Cech is 35, he’s still a far superior goalkeeper to Ospina.
So, what have Arsenal offered him? I mean, surely if he was so desperate to leaving for regular, first team football, nothing other than regular, first team football would change his mind, right?
With Wojciech Szczesny now a Juventus player, this allows Ospina to remain Arsenal’s number two without, you know, an actual decent shot-stoppers getting in the way.
Arsene Wenger has most likely promised him that he’ll be first choice Europa League goalkeeper, just like he was in the Champions League last season, and he’ll probably be between the sticks for Cup matches as well. However, this isn’t any different to last season, so what’s changed other than the fact that Ospina now knows that Fenerbahce aren’t willing to pay more than €3.5m for him?
Wenger gave Ospina the nod in the FA Cup final against Chelsea, which was perhaps the Frenchman’s way of showing he has faith in him. Lord knows why though.
Did Arsenal somehow convince Ospina that he could overtake Cech in the Premier League starting XI knowing that Woj was leaving and they’d have to fork out for another ‘keeper if he left?
I don’t know. But it’s depressing.