When Wojciech Szczesny left Arsenal for good in 2017, his departure was met with mixed emotions from supporters.
The Polish international's time had looked to be up for a while by then, as his relationship with then-manager Arsene Wenger had appeared to sour after the notorious smoking incident. Szczesny maintained his only real telling-off by Wenger came after a selfie, but his exit from North London was teed-up by a two-year loan at Roma.
An academy product who threatened to be first choice for years to come, Szczesny's downfall in Arsenal colours was a frustrating one for plenty of reasons. In the years since, plenty of others have come for his starting spot, with Aaron Ramsdale the latest to establish himself and former first-choice Bernd Leno drawing closer to an exit.
Since July 2017, though, the Gunners have used no fewer than eight goalkeepers in competitive games, with new signing Matt Turner set to make it nine when he makes his debut. Here, Mirror Football looks at how they have all fared.
Petr Cech
Signed in 2015, Cech's arrival was the first sign that Arsenal were preparing to move on from Szczesny. The former Chelsea goalkeeper recovered from an inauspicious Premier League debut against West Ham to help Wenger's team finish second in the league in his first season with just 36 goals conceded - one more than the league's best return.
The number in the 'goals against' column went up in each of the next two seasons, though, with Arsenal missing out on further Champions League football as a consequence. Cech had lost his starting spot by the beginning of the 2018-19 season, but there was still time for a cameo against former club Chelsea in the ill-fated 2019 Europa League final, the Czech international's final game before returning to Stamford Bridge in a non-playing role.
Cech was working as a technical and performance advisor at Chelsea until this season, when he opted to leave after meeting with new owner Todd Boehly. "With the Club under new ownership, I feel now is the right time for me to step aside," he said of the decision.
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David Ospina
After competing with Szczesny for a starting spot, Ospina ended up losing out to Cech in the long run. The Colombian international played just five times in the league after Szczesny's permanent exit, but was a regular in the 2017-18 Europa League campaign as Arsenal reached the semi-finals.
Four years at Napoli followed, before a move to Saudi side Al-Nassr over the summer. He's still been a fixture for his country as well, playing against England at the 2018 World Cup and winning his 124th cap this year.
Ospina's Arsenal career was a weird one. More than half of his games came in cup competitions, with just 29 league outings in four years after joining from Nice in 2014.
Matt Macey
Young talent Macey was handed a couple of cup appearances by Wenger in 2017-18, but that's as good as it got. Norwich City and Red Star Belgrade were the two opponents, with the Englishman keeping a clean sheet against the Serbian side in a Europa League group game.
More loans followed, but the former Bristol Rovers man didn't leave North London for good until he was 26 years old. After impressing in Scotland with Hibernian, he has made the move south to join Luton Town, for whom he played a handful of games on loan from Arsenal in the 2016-17 season.
"I get asked a lot if I could have left Arsenal earlier," Macey told The Daily Record in 2021. "It’s not always as easy as that at a big club. There are responsibilities for the manager to protect, in terms of players picking up injuries at the top level."
Bernd Leno
Signed as a longer-term successor to Cech, Leno arrived with good pedigree after playing more than 200 Bundesliga games for Bayer Leverkusen. He went straight into the first team under Unai Emery, largely limiting Cech to cup appearances, and remained first choice until 2021.
There had been a few hiccups before the start of last season, most notably a bizarre red-card offence in a defeat at Wolves. However, few expected him to lose his spot to Ramsdale so quickly and so decisively.
The German looks set to move on this summer, with Fulham leading the chase. At 30 years of age, he should still be able to contribute at a high level for a while yet.
Emi Martinez
Martinez, like Macey, had largely been an academy 'keeper with the occasional cup game. That changed during the 2019-20 season, though, with an injury to Leno thrusting the Argentine into the first team.
Aged 27 at the time and with several loan spells behind him, Martinez seized his chance and played more than half of his 38 career Arsenal games during that campaign. Rather than letting him compete with Leno for another year, though, the Gunners cashed in when a £20m bid arrived from Aston Villa.
Since then, it's arguably been a case of everyone winning. Arsenal got more than they would have received even 12 months earlier, while Martinez has got the regular first-team football he needed to establish himself in Argentina's national side.
Alex Runarsson
Signed very much as a back-up to Leno in 2020, Runarsson's arrival still prompted questions. He hadn't been on the radar of many while at Dijon and the French side hadn't performed particularly notably with the Icelander between the sticks.
Runarsson was called upon just six times in his first season in England, with only one of those appearances coming in the Premier League. Arsenal's decision to add another 'keeper on loan in January - and another in a permanent deal in the summer of 2021 - wasn't exactly a glowing recommendation.
If you were after signs he might be set for a renaissance, last season wasn't one of them as he secured a bottom-half finish in Belgium with OH Leuven, having conceded 25 goals in his 17 appearances.
Mat Ryan
Ryan joined on loan from Brighton in January 2021, having lost his spot at his parent club to Robert Sanchez. Arsenal were unbeaten across his three league appearances, but Leno's comeback saw the Australian return to the bench.
Mikel Arteta's side had the opportunity to pick up the former Valencia man on a free at the end of the season, but instead opted for a younger model. He then decided to return to Spain, linking up with former Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal at Real Sociedad.
"We got in contact with them (Arsenal) just before making a decision to see what their stance was and they just gave me feedback that I wasn't top of their list," the 30-year-old said after his exit was confirmed. "I think the information that came back was perhaps they're looking for a homegrown goalkeeper to fill a spot there but that's as much as I know."
Aaron Ramsdale
The homegrown 'keeper in question ended up being Ramsdale, who joined from Sheffield United in a £32m deal. It felt like a lot for a back-up, but it turned out he would be starting sooner than anticipated.
Ramsdale played 34 times last season, helping Arsenal to a fifth-place finish. His impact on the dressing room has also been a huge boost, with the 24-year-old growing into a big presence after his experience at Euro 2020 with England.
That being said, incoming shot-stopper Turner has warned Ramsdale that he'll need to fight to remain Arteta's first choice. “When I got my first chance with the national team, it was only as a No. 3," he said. "No one ever really took me seriously, so I’m not going over there just to collect a cheque and ride off into the sunset."
