Arsenal's top 5 academy graduates

#3 Wojciech Szczesny

Arsenal product Wojciech Szczesny is now recognised as one of the world's best goalkeepers

Wojciech Szczesny is currently rated as one of the world’s best goalkeepers, and in hindsight, it’s hard to believe that Arsenal were willing to let him leave in the summer of 2017 given his tremendous potential.

Signed by the Gunners’ academy in 2006 at the age of 16, the Polish stopper made his way into the senior squad in the 2009-10 season before being loaned out to League One side Brentford, where he made an extremely positive impact.

By the start of 2011, Szczesny had become Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper; initially thrust into the role due to injuries to Lukasz Fabianski and Manuel Almunia, the Pole performed so impressively that it became impossible for Arsene Wenger to drop him back to the bench. 2011-12 saw him play in all of Arsenal’s Premier League fixtures, and the following season, he claimed the #1 shirt as Almunia departed the club.

However, despite being relatively consistent, mistakes began to creep into Szczesny’s game – something that should perhaps have been expected given his young age – and his attitude off the pitch began to be questioned too, particularly following an incident in which he was fined for smoking in the club’s shower room.

In the summer of 2015, Arsenal signed veteran goalkeeper Petr Cech, and so Szczesny was sent out on loan for the season to Roma. Following his first season at the club, another loan was agreed, and in 2016-17, the Polish keeper kept the most clean sheets in Serie A, helping Roma to finish in second place before returning to North London.

Rather than re-introduce him to their squad, though, the Gunners instead sold him to Juventus for a relatively small fee of €12m – and the rest is basically history. Unfortunately, this was a case of Arsenal simply not having enough patience with their academy graduate; now he has matured, Szczesny would likely walk into the Gunners’ first XI.