Former Arsenal star tells Jakub Kiwior he is too ‘stressed’ to watch Gunners in title race

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Arsenal star Jakub Kiwior is also a Poland International, and regularly features alongside goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Szczesny was a promising goalkeeping talent at Arsenal over a decade ago, and was well on his way to becoming top-class, winning a Golden Glove, but a fallout with Arsene Wenger derailed his career at the Emirates.

He would then go on loan to Roma, before joining Juventus to replace Gianluigi Buffon, and he has made himself the permanent number one at the Italian giants.

Szczesny was a fairly popular figure at Arsenal, having spent a few years in the academy after joining from Legia Warsaw in 2006, and it is clear that he still has admiration for the club. However, it appears that he has not been watching Mikel Arteta’s side in the Premier League title race.

Jakub Kiwior reveals Wojciech Szczesny Arsenal admission

Speaking to Polish outlet TVP Sport, Kiwior revealed that Szczesny had told him he cannot watch Arsenal right now, as it stresses him out too much.

“When I came to Poland and met Wojtek [Szczesny], he told me: please win, please win,” Kiwior stated.

“He told me he can’t watch Arsenal games, because it makes him stressed.”

Szczesny spent nearly 11 years at the club between signing from Legia Warsaw and joining Juventus, and he clearly has a lot of emotional attachment to the team which gave him his chance in the Premier League and Champions League.

Where did it go wrong for Szczesny at Arsenal?

Szczesny was excellent in the 2013-14 season, winning a Golden Glove after helping Arsenal keep a fairly solid defence alongside Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.

This should have meant he would kick on the following season, but that proved to be nothing but a disaster. A few poor performances attracted criticism towards the goalkeeper, and a calamitous display in a 2-0 defeat at Southampton, where he was at fault for both goals, was the breaking point.

The Poland star was then caught smoking in the dressing room after the defeat, which was the final straw for Wenger. Szczesny was dropped for David Ospina, and the signing of Petr Cech in the summer meant that there was no room for him at the club.

He impressed on loan at Roma for two years before joining Juventus, whilst Cech was disappointing overall at Arsenal, in what was ultimately a mistake from Wenger. However, Szczesny had burned his own bridges with the Frenchman, and the situation was ultimately more detrimental to the club than it was to the player.