Buffon confirms Szczesny's move to Juventus

Gianluigi Buffon has all but confirmed that Arsenal's Wojciech Szczesny will join the club in the summer.

Szczesny attracted interest from his parent club Arsenal and Italian champions Juventus after a string of impressive performances while on loan at Roma. The Pole's consistency between the sticks was an integral part of Roma's surge for the title but they eventually came up short as they finished second.

Arsene Wenger was reportedly surprised with Szczesny's progress and wants to bring him back to the Emirates Stadium to compete with Petr Cech and to replace the outgoing David Ospina. Both Juventus and Roma were also keen on acquiring the services of the Pole.

However, Juventus seems to have won the race for his signature after club legend and current goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon confirmed the move.

Speaking to reporters after Italy's 5-0 win over Lichtenstein in the World Cup qualifiers, the 39-year-old was quoted by Football Italia as saying: "He's the made the best choice he could make. I think it's an intelligent marriage between the strongest club and the one who was the strongest goalkeeper last year."

"He has really made the best choice for his present and his future, and I'm sure he'll never regret it."

 

When asked about a possible rivalry between the two, Buffon laughed it off and said: "How will we adapt to each other? Easily. One gets called-up, he plays and if you're not called on you don't play. It's a lot simpler than you might think."

While Arsenal have not released any official announcement yet, it is likely that they accepted a bid from Juventus for the Pole, who has a year left on his contract at the North London club and are likely to use the money to try and keep David Ospina.