Taking the risk of leaving one of the biggest clubs in football for the betterment of your career is one of the most daunting tasks for any player, but for Lukasz Fabianski, it was arguably the best decision he ever made.
The West Ham number one left Arsenal in 2014 after being mainly a backup option for the Gunners during his seven years at the north London club as numbers from Transfermarkt show, and whilst many would see leaving a team as big as the Gunners for a side lower down in the Premier League as a weird career move, it turned out to be the making of Fabianski.
The Polish keeper flourished at Swansea City, a club who’s relegation to the Championship in 2018 would lead Fabianski to West Ham, where the 34-year-old shot-stopper won Hammer of the Year in his debut season for the club.
And Fabianski has recently admitted how leaving the Gunners was the best thing to happen to him in an interview with Sky Sports News.
Fabianski said: “I wanted to prove myself on the pitch, but I didn’t have many chances, so it put a lot more pressure on every single game that I played,” he says. “I found myself in situations where I was so keen to show my qualities, but many times it worked against me and I was punished for being too eager.
Indeed, it wouldn’t be crazy to suggest that last season Fabianski was West Ham’s most important player.
As numbers from the Premier League’s official website show, the Polish international made more saves out of any keeper in the league for the 2018/19 campaign, and Fabianski believes that leaving Arsenal at the time that he did has helped him massively in becoming the player he is now.
The West Ham number one added: “Over the years, I think I have developed a better understanding of being a goalkeeper – and I mean on and off the pitch. I mean how to deal with certain situations, how to prepare myself for games, how to read the game.”
Fabianski has continued this season in as fine of form as he was in last year, and for many West Ham supporters, they will be thanking the keeper for making the decision back in 2014 to leave Arsenal to pursue first-team football.
