Wojciech Szczesny has been busy earning plaudits in Serie A but he still misses ‘special’ Arsenal - while revealing he earned the ire of Arsene Wenger for an ill-timed selfie. 

The 30-year-old has established himself as Juventus’ first choice keeper after picking up the torch from the legendary Gianluigi Buffon but he still yearns for north London.

Speaking to Arsenal’s ‘In Lockdown podcast’, the likeable Pole opened up about his time at the club, revealing a few regrets.

"More than anything, I miss the boys," Szczesny said. "We had a fantastic group of players. We were young, we had a lot of energy, we had a lot of banter and we had some good and bad moments together, but we really united as a group. It was a great joy to be with them every day. 

"I miss them. I miss playing at the Emirates. I think that was something special for me, the quality of the pitch, the fans, the big nights in a north London derby. 

"The emotions were quite different because whatever you do in your career, and some of us have gone on to make great things and have made a great career whereas some have maybe made a step back, there's nothing like playing for the club that you love. The emotion of that is something special. 

"That's why I was always jealous and why my dream was always to follow the Gerrards and the Scholes, the Tottis of this world. I think it's just beautiful that you can play your whole career for one club and just appreciate that emotion of going out to the pitch and having that extra little bit. Your heart rate is a little bit higher because you know it means that little bit more to you than to the others. That was just really beautiful. 

"You go on and make a big career. You do your best, you're professional, but that's always missing and always will be. That's fine I think. The pain of not being able to live that emotion again is also something that can push me through it and really make the best career that I can for myself."

The highly-rated shot-stopper - who broke through at Arsenal after a season on loan to Brentford in 2010 - was the joint winner of the 2013/14 Premier League Golden Glove award.

Szczesny has another triumphant day at Wembley

He was to return to Wembley a year after being a non-playing substitute during the 3-2 victory over Hull City in 2014 as he picked up the second of his two FA Cup winners medals, this time when he kept a clean sheet in the 4-0 victory over Aston Villa in the 2015 final.

In all Szczesny made 181 appearances in 11 years at the Emirates before leaving the Gunners to join Juventus in 2017.

A big off field mistake costs Szczesny Arsenal career

A league match at Southampton two years earlier proved to be his final match for the Gunners.

The Poland international, who admitted he was ‘smoking regularly’ at the time, made two costly errors during a 2-0 defeat against the Saints on New Years day 2015 – prompting him to light a cigarette in the St Mary’s showers after the match to ease his frustration, much to the ire of boss Wenger, who dropped him in favour of David Ospina.

Szczesny refuses to be downhearted

Yet Szczesny refused to be defined by the incident and started to shine in Serie A.

Liverpool’s Alisson may stake a valid claim as the best net minder on the planet during the Reds imperious season, until the coronavirus pandemic struck – but during the 2016/17 season at the Stadio Olimpico, where Szczesny was on loan from Juve, he kept Alisson at bay at Roma, grabbing the No1 spot and limiting the Brazilian to rare appearance in the Europa League.

On his return to Turin, Szczesny earned his first Serie A scudetto in 2017-18, making 17 league appearances over the campaign, sharing duties with veteran Buffon, before ousting the legend at the start of the 2018-19 season saw the former Gunner become first choice stopper for the biggest team in Italy as helped the Old Lady to another championship and his second shield.

Memories of Arsenal still burn bright

But it was his time at Arsenal which left the biggest impression on him as he recalled falling foul of then boss Wenger – again.

Szczesny revealed the Frenchman was not impressed with his behaviour in the aftermath of a victory in the north London derby six years ago - after a infamous selfie.

A superb goal from Tomas Rosicky sealed a hard-fought victory over Spurs at White Hart Lane in March 2014 prompted scenes of unbridled joy at the final whistle.

With the Pole standing firm in the face of a Spurs onslaught an overjoyed Szczesny was joined by Kieran Gibbs and Lukas Podolski as they celebrated in front of 3,000 travelling Gooners. Lost in the delirium the trio posed for a selfie in front of the away fans before posting it on social media.

But speaking to Arsenal's In Lockdown podcast, Szczesny said the Frenchman was furious.

“He [Wenger] wasn't happy [after] the famous selfie at White Hart Lane,” Poland international Szczesny said.

“He wasn't exactly happy about that one and looking back at it I would never do it again. But I think I was 21 or 22 year old at the time and you really enjoy those kind of things and it was great for me back then. 

“Now looking back at it, it was probably childish and I know he wasn't happy with that one at the time. No punishments whatsoever, but he let me know. 

“I might not be exactly accurate in the way I report this back to you, but it was kind of, "You never see Iker Casillas doing that do you?" and I was like, "Yeah you're probably right there".