Wojciech Szczesny was forced to apologise to Arsenal and Arsene Wenger after comments his dad made during his time at the club. The Polish goalkeeper joined the Gunners as a teenager and enjoyed a successful loan spell at Brentford, who Arsenal face on Thursday, before making his first team breakthrough.

After battling to become Arsenal’s number one throughout the 2010/11 season, Szczesny established himself as first-choice for the next several years. Becoming a goalkeeper ensured he followed in the footsteps of his dad Maciej, who earned seven caps for Poland.

However, Wojciech was forced to apologise to Wenger after his father accused the Arsenal boss of making his son a scapegoat. The outburst came after Wojciech was dropped for games against Bayern Munich and Swansea City in March 2013.

"Wenger's already started to look for the scapegoat,” Maciej said. “It is not the way the boss should behave. Wojciech has had two serious injuries. He played with one in April and May (last year). He shouldn't have agreed to play at that time, but the coach insisted.”

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He continued: "In my opinion Mr Wenger messed up a lot in April and May. I don't blame the young man who went along with his coach. His current lack of form is a result of those two months."

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However, the Arsenal shot-stopper was quick to distance himself from his dad’s comments. The shot-stopper was eager to dismiss any suggestion that he was unhappy and insisted he disagreed with his father.

"I would like to apologise for the comments made by my father," Wojciech said. "I'd like to make it clear those were the views of my father and not mine."

He added: "Although I respect his views, I cannot accept them as I find them disrespectful to the club I truly love. I have been at Arsenal Football Club for seven years now and I have always shown my full respect to the club, Arsene Wenger, all the coaching staff, my team-mates and the fans.

"I've always felt I received great support from the manager and the fans and I am fully focused on getting back to my best. I am proud to be a part of Arsenal and I see my future at this great club."

Despite attempting to play down the situation, Szczesny revealed that he had not spoken to his dad for two years when Maciej once again spoke out against the club. His son had lost his place in the team after a 2-0 defeat at Southampton in January and was reportedly fined for smoking in the showers.

“Mr Wenger is simply not loyal to people,” Maciej wrote in a blog. “He does not always keep his word and is not honest. Wenger claims there is a cigarette ash on his suit jacket whereas in fact it’s his own dandruff.”

He continued: “In this situation, let him [Szczesny] depart, but only for a stronger team where he will compete with similar goals as Arsenal. He cannot go to Swansea like [Lukasz] Fabianski just to play, but to somewhere where he will be appreciated and not fall below a reputation which over the years has earned in London”

In a remarkable turn of events, Wojciech publicly criticised his father on the eve of Arsenal facing Aston Villa in the 2015 FA Cup final. He was battling with David Ospina for a starting spot at Wembley but took time out of his preparation to respond to his dad.

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“Really shouldn’t be dealing with this one day before the cup final but my father leaves me no choice,” Szczesny wrote on social media. “I have not spoken to him in more than two years and just like everybody else I have had enough of his idiotic comments about The Football Club and The Manager I owe so much to!

“Therefore please do not consider his comments as my shared view. Thank You for your understanding!”

Szczesny made 181 appearances for Arsenal but spent the next two seasons on loan at Roma before joining Juventus in 2017. The 35-year-old briefly retired from the sport before signing for Barcelona in October 2024.

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