Szczesny: "Joining Roma was the best thing that could have happened to me"

Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has given an in-depth interview to The Guardian about his two years on-loan in the Italian capital. The 27-year-old Polish custodian has matured both as a person and a player during his time at the Stadio Olimpico but looks set to head back to his parent club Arsenal at the end of the season.
 

It could be one of the biggest decisions he has to make in his career and he explained to the journal that; “The one thing I want to do is make sure I don’t stay still, I was quite still for five years – sometimes I played better, sometimes worse, sometimes phenomenal, sometimes rubbish. You take steps forwards and backwards. It is not very good for your head if you go up and down and up and down. I want to try to keep going up, with my quality and with my decisions that I make. I am 27, the best I have ever been, I still have room to improve and I want to make sure that room doesn’t stay empty. I want to go into that room. It feels like a big moment.”
 

Having become one of the best keepers in Serie A this season, Szczesny suggests that his experience with the Giallorossi has been invaluable as he stated that; “The season before I left I had a very bad season – performances, injuries, off field – it was terrible, I could have stayed in an environment that was going negatively for me. Instead the opportunity that came gave me a fresh start. You get a new perspective. You get new coaches and influences. You learn new drills. You do new things. Now I am very happy that it happened, even if the first impression was that I might be out of Arsenal, which was very painful. Now I think it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me.”
 

“The biggest thing I have taken away from these two years at Roma is the fact I grew as a goalkeeper. It’s just raising your levels, your standards. I absorbed a bigger knowledge of football, the tactical side of the game. You don’t see me with that rush of blood that I used to have as a younger keeper. It’s not that I don’t feel that rush of blood but tactically you are more aware of when to be involved, when to let the defenders recover.”
 

He also explained that he loved living in the Eternal City and after last weekend’s home win over Juventus and having arrived at one of his favourite restaurants for lunch, Szczesny declared that; “There is so much good energy, people being out in the sun.”