Arsenal Owe David Ospina A Transfer

David Ospina has done nothing wrong at Arsenal, but he wants to play and he needs to play. The club owes it to him to send him somewhere where he can find regular time.

Having just went over why Mathieu Debuchy is, and should be, moving on, let’s focus on another, more and even more unfortunate story. I covered just a few days ago how Ospina is getting a raw deal at Arsenal. Not by any fault of his or the club, it’s just bad timing.

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The Colombian keeper was brought over at the start of the 2014/15 season to challenge Wojciech Szczesny for the starting spot. After the New Years meltdown, Ospina took that spot and never let it go. He displayed fantastic ability and managed to be one of the best keepers in the world, statistically speaking.

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And yet, now it looks like Ospina will not be seen for the duration of the year. After a howler against Olympiakos, his Arsenal days may be through. Petr Cech is far too good to ever take out of the goal. And from here on out, there will not be any games that Arsenal can put on cruise control for. Whether it is the Champions League, the FA Cup or the Premier League, Arsenal is going to need Petr Cech.

Which brings us to the problem. David Ospina is just 27 years old. He has earned a starting job, but he is not going to find it at Arsenal for at least another half decade. We cannot expect him to want to wait that long. But what is Arsene Wenger to do? He cannot sell him in January, that would leave Arsenal with Matt Macey as the sole backup keeper. Emiliano Martinez and the enigmatic Pole are both out on year long loans.

Ospina deserves to be sold to a team that is going to give him the playing time he has earned. Besiktas is apparently nearing a deal for the Colombian, but what is the likelihood that Wenger will leave his goal so exposed?

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It is a shame, but it looks like Ospina is going to have to ride out the rest of the year on the bench. Maybe Wenger will find it in his heart to sell him in January, but the team will always come first. At least he will be able to find some quality playing time in the summer when he finds a new place to call home. Wherever he goes, he should always be rooted for by Arsenal fans. He rescued the club from a sticky situation just last season.