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One of the positions that Arsenal seemingly needed to address heading into this summer was goalkeeper. Petr Cech is aging and declining, David Ospina is David Ospina, and Matt Macey was the young unknown quantity. One Bernd Leno signing later, all of a sudden there’s a logjam at the #1 position.
Cech probably isn’t going anywhere, and I assume the club sees Leno as the heir apparent, which would also make him the main backup, all of which bumps Ospina and Macey down the depth chart. While Macey’s still young enough that that doesn’t really matter for another season or so, Ospina’s 29 and looking, presumably, to be the #1 somewhere.
Which makes today’s rumor mill both interesting and plausible:
Boca tendría todo arreglado con David Ospina, cuentan que solo restaría discutir el tema de su contrato, que es muy alto. Llegaría a préstamo del Arsenal. ¿Se viene otro colombiano? pic.twitter.com/Rrecudbnd6
— Rincón Bostero (@RinconDeBoca) July 4, 2018
For those of you who, like me, don’t speak Spanish, that tweet says
“Boca would have everything arranged with David Ospina, they say that it would only be necessary to discuss the subject of his contract, which is very high. I would get a loan from Arsenal. Is another Colombian coming?”
Yup, It sounds like Ospina wants to move to Boca, but that his contract may mean that would be a loan at first with an option to buy. I have always been a low-key Ospina fan, largely because I believe that, despite his obvious gaffes, he’s not that bad of a keeper - he’s clearly not at the de Gea/top five in the league level, but he’s not supposed to be. I think he gets an unfair amount of abuse sometimes, when he’s a perfectly serviceable backup option for Arsenal.
This could be one of those cases where leaving will rejuvenate a career, and if that has to happen, I wish him well.