Arsenal’s Four Goalies, Who Is Going On Loan?
Arsenal finished off their pre-season campaign with an exhilarating win over the Polish Legia Warsaw. Even though the game had some ardent goals, the overall game was very interesting. The game showed Arsenal’s infirmity in defense and particularly highlighted Lukasz Fabianski’s blunders.
Since Jens Lehman’s exit in 2008, Arsene Wenger has been having problems getting a permanent keeper. Wenger has continuously failed to get a quality keeper similar to Lehaman and was forced to use Manuel Alumnia and Fabianski in recent matches. Alumnia occasionally performed radiantly but other than that he has been inconsistent and is known to make vital errors.
Wenger vowed to put in operation some major changes in the youth squad after failing miserably last season. Plans to start with some new goalkeepers are in place. There have been numerous rumours about the change of keepers, but they have proven to be just rumors as Arsenal have now confirmed that they will be starting the new season with the same goalie.
Arsene Wenger has praised two players, Wojciech Szczensy and Vito Mannone. They have been touted to be future world class keepers but they are very young now and still have a long way to go before they can claim that title.
Wenger commented on the matter in a press release by saying that out of the four keepers one will be sent on loan and the other three will be left to compete for the position of goalie. Wenger has refused to comment further and did not disclose who will be sent on loan which has been the root cause of a lot of rumours.
Alumunia’s performance in Arsenal’s pre-season matches has been impressive and if he continues to play like this then that will confirm a spot for him in the season’s opening match. Still for some reason he is disliked.
Chances are that Mannoe, Szcensy and Fabianski are being considered for loan options, with the Polish player in need of confidence-building and changing his erroneous ways. Meanwhile Fabianski seems unlikely to be given a major role as his pre-season performance has been very un-convincing and keeps failing to contain and organize corners.
Sending the twenty-five year old away could be a good thing. Sending him to the Dutch Eredivisie, the French Ligue or even to the Spanish side could have a very favorable outcome for the team. With Fabianski out of the running, this would ensure Sczensy and Mannone take up lead roles to grow and pressurize Almunia to perform even better.
Szcensy is seen as a possible heir to Arsenal’s number one role. It is widely speculated that as soon as the 20-year old has been groomed. A season’s loan in Europe or possibly even in the Championship or the Premier League would help further the boom for Fabianski and add to his growth. Making him worthy enough for a major role in Arsenal’s next season.
This leaves behind twenty-two year old Mannone. He has given a spectacular pre-season performance and a lot of people feel that he is capable of proving himself as the best goalie this time.
Mannone has had little opportunity in the past to prove his worth except for the famous match against Fulham where he proved to the World why he was chosen. Nevertheless right now it is unclear how the Italian will be used.
With the Premier League about to start, Wenger has to make a quick decision about the four goalkeepers as Arsenal soon take on Liverpool.
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