According to reports on Goal.com, Arsenal has signed the Colombian No.1 David Ospina on a four-year contract. Arsenal will play Nice a total of £3.5 million + add-ons for the 25 year-old goal keeper. He will join the gunners after they come back from their pre-season tour of the United States of America. Reports state he will get a £60,000 a week contract with only minor formalities to be completed.
After their FA Cup hero, Lukas Fabianski left for Swansea, Arsenal was in desperate need of a keeper who would give their current No.1 Wojciech Szczesny a tough competition. The Colombian was Ligue 1’s best goal keeper. Even though the award went to PSG’s Italian Sirigu, Ospina was amazing in between the sticks, as he helped Nice stay in the top division. Ospina will be a huge miss for the French outfit and will be a big asset to the gunners.
Wojciech Szczesny must be wary by the potential arrival of the Colombian. He has not faced any competition for his places for some time now, and with the arrival of Ospina, his place is under big threat. One only needs to look at Nice’s record without Ospina. They lost all 9 games and conceded 18 goals without the Colombian in goal. With him in goal they won 12 games and lost 11 with him conceding a mere 0.86 goals per game. Nice ended their season with an identical defensive record to that of Lyon who conceded 44 goals and finished 12 places and 19 points better than them. It is safe to say, had it not been for Ospina, Nice would have been relegated.
Comparing Szczesny and Ospina, both are close when it comes to average clean sheet, but you have to take in the fact that Ospina played in a worse team. His saves and saves per goal are very impressive, both adding up to excellent over all goals conceded. When it comes to punches and catches, Ospina is strong in both those departments as his decision making is very good. When it comes to overall stats, there is little to separate them and Arsenal will have 2 very good and young keepers to challenge each other next season.
With the transfer fee only being 3.5m, this is an absolute steal for the gunners. As Ospina wouldn’t be content with the being on the bench, it’s a better replacement to the outgoing Lukas Fabianski than many had thought. The Columbian is sure to provide a stiff competition to the inconsistent Pole in the Arsenal goal that for sure.
