13 things you need to know about Wojciech Szczesny

1. Wojciech was born in Warsaw on April 18, 1990. He began his career with his hometown club Legia Warsaw and actually made his debut when he was just 15.

2. Although he tasted professional football at such an early age, there was a life before football for the new Roma goalkeeper. From the ages of seven to nine, Szczesny practiced ballroom dancing, even if, by his own admission, his lanky frame left him a bit wooden. "I'm a little embarrassed to talk about it now but the very first sport that I did, if you can call it sport, was ballroom dancing," he says. “I was tall and so I think I was a little bit stiff but I was getting the movements and everything."

3. After joining the Arsenal Academy in 2006, he progressed through the ranks before being handed his full debut aged 19 in a Carling Cup match against West Brom in September 2009. In December 2010, he made his Premier League debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

4. In November 2014 he became only the 11th goalkeeper in the Arsenal’s history to reach the milestone of 50 games with no goals conceded. In total, Szczesny has made 181 appearances for the Gunners and has won two FA Cups and one Community Shield.

5. Arsenal are not the only English club he has played for. After making his first-team debut, he was sent out on loan to League One side Brentford to gain more experience in November 2009. He may have only been at the club for six months but he obviously did a good job. In a poll on the club website in February 2015, fans voted him Brentford’s Goalkeeper of the Decade!

6. Szczesny has been a full international for Poland since 2009. He won his first cap on November 18, 2009 against Canada in a friendly match. Since then, he’s represented his country on a further 18 occasions and has kept seven clean sheets.

7. The 2012 European Champions in Poland and the Ukraine should have been the ideal stage for Szczesny but it didn’t quite go to plan. In the opening game against Greece, he was sent off for a foul on Dimitris Salpingidis in the 68th minute and managed to rule himself out for the rest of the tournament.

8. If the European Championships are a tournament Szczesny will want to forget, Poland’s first ever victory over Germany in the National Stadium in Warsaw in October 2014 is one game he’ll never forget. The Polish press chose Szczesny as their Man of the Match for the numerous saves he made against the World Champions.

9. Wojciech was always destined to be a goalkeeper. His father Maciej Szczesny made seven appearances in goal for the Polish national team between 1991 and 1996. Over his career, his father won four league titles in Poland with four different sides - Legia Warsaw, Widzew Lodz, Polonia Warsaw and Wisla Krakow. Meanwhile, his brother Jan also plays in goal and is currently with Polish side Gwardia Warszawa.

10. In Serie A, Szczesny will come up against Roberto Mancini, who caused his father Maciej to be sent off in the dying minutes of the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final tie between Sampdoria and Legia Warsaw. Mancini had been on the receiving end of a slap in the face from the Polish stopper.

11. Off the pitch, Wojciech is engaged to singer Marina Luczenko, who was born in Ukraine but grew up in Poland. He asked her to marry him on July 9 this year. She said yes!

12. As anyone who has been following him since he was first linked with Roma will know, Szczesny is very active on social media. You can follow him on Facebook by clicking here, on Twitter he’s @13Szczesny13 and he’s also on Instragram @wojciechszczesny1

13. He once had a terrible accident in the Arsenal gym. In November 2008, he lost his balance and the heavy bar he was lifting fractured both of his forearms. Metal plates had to be inserted into his arms and he’s still scarred from the incident. "I say that one is from the war and the other is from a shark bite," he jokes.