Wojciech Szczesny feels working with Gianluigi Buffon will help him take over as first-choice keeper at Juventus next season.

With the legendary Italian retiring at the end of the campaign, Juve ensured they had a replacement ready in advance. That replacement looks set to be Wojciech Szczesny, whom they signed from Arsenal for just £11m in the summer.

Szczesny significantly improved during his two-year spell at Roma and feels that working with a player he idolised as a child will improve him further. “What makes it better is I get to work with him now because replacing Buffon is not easy,” he told the Independent.

“You can never be better than him, so now I have a year to be with him and learn from him, to gain knowledge from him and there’s a million goalkeepers who’d love to have that experience. Speaking with him and understanding what makes him great is humbling for me because the level he’s at at almost 40 years old is ridiculous.

“Seeing him up close, I knew he was good, but I didn’t know he was this good. Seeing him in training, seeing his personality in the dressing room, the leadership that he shows, the respect he gets from his team-mates, the fans, everywhere around the world, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The Pole took a risk leaving Arsenal to be second-choice at Juventus during a World Cup year. However, the prospect of being a long-term number one at such a big club took priority over  first choice for his country in an international.

It’s a remarkable turnaround for Szczesny, who lost his place in the Arsenal first-team before he left the club. He was replaced by David Ospina during the 2014/15 season, before Arsenal signed Petr Cech the following summer.

Szczesny was sent to Roma, and he never played for Arsenal again. It doesn’t reflect well on the Gunners at all. They failed to extract the most from a player that came through their academy and who loved the club.