Juventus target Wojciech Szczesny left out of Arsenal’s preseason tour squad

For weeks we’ve been hearing that Wojciech Szczesny is going to be a Juventus player. And for most of those weeks we’ve pretty much assumed that a deal will be happening even as Juve’s two keepers who played behind Gigi Buffon last season, Neto and Emil Audero, joined new teams within the last handful of days.

Want another clue that Szczesny is going to be wearing Juventus gear in relatively short order?

Go ahead and check out Arsenal’s 25-man squad that departed London on Sunday to go on the club’s preseason tour of Australia and China that spans the next two weeks. There are three goalkeepers on that list — and Szczesny isn’t one of them. There’s recent signing Alexandre Lacazette, but no Szczesny. There are some players who probably won’t be Arsenal players by the end of the transfer window, but no Szczesny.

You get it by now.

We all know the situation by now: If Szczesny does arrive — and there’s nothing to say he won’t at this point based on this latest development — then he will take over Neto’s spot as Buffon’s understudy and more than likely be the first man to try and replace San Gigi when he retires. Having spent the past two seasons at Roma, it’s not like Juventus’ management team haven’t had the chance to scout Szczesny extensively, which means they must feel confident turning things over to 27-year-old Poland international.

Whether you feel like Szczesny is a suitable replacement for Buffuon down the line still remains to be seen, but for next season he’s as good of a No. 2 goalkeeper as you will find in Europe. Then again, we said the same thing when Marco Storari was around mainly because he was. And it’s not like Neto was some kind of slouch, either.

Good backup goalkeepers are good. They’re not Buffon, but they’re good.

And now we know that Juventus are soon to be signing one since Woj won’t be hanging out with the kangaroos on Arsenal’s preseason tour this summer.