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Wenger: Szczesny can be an Arsenal great

Arsene Wenger believes Wojciech Szczesny can go on to become an Arsenal legend.

The Polish goalkeeper registered his 50th clean sheet for Arsenal on Tuesday when Wenger's side beat Marseille in the Champions League. Szczesny is only the 11th man to reach that milestone for the Club.

What's more, the Arsenal No 1's statistics match up favourable with some illustrious predecessors. He keeps a clean sheet every two-and-a-half games on average compared to Jens Lehmann (2.53), John Lukic (2.61) and Pat Jennings (3.06).

"It will depend on how much he will continue to focus, to have the desire to be better, to have the desire to put the hard work in"

At 23, Szczesny has his best years ahead of him and Wenger thinks he could make history.

"Yes, he can be one of the best," the manager told Arsenal Player. "You have to question a little bit the defenders as well [when you consider clean sheet stats] because you're part of a team and sometimes too many individual stats can lead you to conclusions that are not as obvious as that.

"But what I am sure is that he has the potential to be a historical goalkeeper for Arsenal Football Club. That will depend on how much he will continue to focus, to have the desire to be better, to have the desire to put the hard work in.

"If you look around at different clubs you see how quickly a goalkeeper can lose confidence, how quickly a goalkeeper can lose all his qualities. The level of urgency in this position has to be absolutely 100 per cent.

"He is a very young man. I personally believe his composure is better, his reading of the game is better, his level of concentration is much stronger and that comes out with his numbers. He is still a very young goalkeeper because he's at an age where other goalkeepers start to play.

"He has already a vast experience. That's why I think it's very good news for the Club that he has extended his contract. But rightly so as well because this Club has given him a huge chance at a very young age - and that is not common at in the top, top clubs.

"I would like to give credit to our education system as well because he has been educated here, he has been given a chance here so that is quite faithful to the values that we have at our club. You speak of Wilshere, you speak of Ramsey and I think they are together exactly the same."

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