Veteran Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny admits it “still hurts” to have missed out on a Premier League title during his time at Arsenal.
Szczesny, in Birmingham for pre-season training with Barça, is nevertheless grateful to have finally seen his former club end their league title drought in the 2025-26 season.
Arsenal had finished runners-up in the previous three consecutive campaigns.
“I suffered a lot [during] the Champions League final,” Szczesny said to The Athletic in reference to Arsenal’s penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on May 30.
“But to win the Premier League after 22 years… It’s a big relief because I’ve waited for it for a very long time and I’m very happy they built a project of probably one of the best clubs in Europe.”
Szczesny joined the Gunners as a teenager in 2006 and made 181 appearances for them in his 10 years at the club.
During the 2013-14 campaign, Arsenal were top of the league longer than any other side but collapsed and were out of the race by late March.
Szczesny was joint-winner of the Golden Glove award in 2013-14 with Petr Cech.
“When I was there, we had one season when we were on top of the league for a very long time, and we lost in the end,” the Poland goalkeeper said.
“I felt we were the best team in the league. But we were a very young, inexperienced team, and in the end, when it mattered, we fell short. It still hurts because it’s the one trophy that I haven’t won in professional football that I would have loved to win… winning the Premier League with Arsenal. It’s still bugging me from the inside, but as a fan I’m very happy about what happened this year.
“Arsenal is a place where I made my dream come true. Emotionally, it’s the maximum that I believe anybody can achieve: playing for the club of your dreams. I’ve achieved the dream. It’s the peak of your career. It’s a beautiful story, although I only won three trophies with Arsenal: two FA Cups and a Community Shield.
“It will probably always be the most beautiful part of my career. The one filled with the most passion. It was also the start of my career. I was very hungry, very determined to show people that I belong at that level.”
Szczesny retired from football in August 2024 following a long spell at Juventus but signed for the Spanish giants two months later after first choice Marc-André ter Stegen suffered a season-ending injury.
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“When I stopped, I didn’t want to play football anymore,” he said. “I didn’t imagine anything happening after 2024.
“I kind of fell out of love with football. I didn’t enjoy playing anymore. I didn’t enjoy waking up for training.
“I had one year left of my contract with Juventus, which at some point they were not able to afford. We decided to part ways, and I was not ready for any challenge. I didn’t want to change countries, move clubs, find new schools for the kids and find a new place. It was an easy decision [to retire] for me and the family. Once you get to a certain point of your life, family actually comes before football.
“Now I’m living one of the best times of my career, and I’m loving every minute of it.”
Szczesny has won back-to-back LaLiga titles with Barça among other trophies.
