Lukasz Fabianski Bio

Fabianski is a young Polish goalkeeper who signed from Legia Warszawa to provide competition for Jens Lehmann and Manuel Almunia. With Lehmann's departure in the summer of 2008, he will be understudy to Almunia and will no doubt get his chances of first-team action in the Carling Cup.

Having begun his career in the MSP Szamotuly football academy when he was 14-years-old, he played for three small Polish clubs before signing for Lech Poznan in the 2004/05 season.

Grabbing the attention of Legia Warszawa, Fabianski was signed and competed with Artur Boruc, who would later move to Celtic.

Fabianski was the club's first choice goalkeeper after the departure of Boruc and he helped Legia win the Polish league championship in the following 2005/2006 season.

With some exceptional performances, he won the Football Oscar for the best goalkeeper in the Polish Ekstraklasa in both the 2005 and 2006 seasons, catching the eye of Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.

The club agreed an undisclosed fee, believed to around £2million, with Arsenal for the 'keeper and Wenger revealed: 'He is one for the future. We have identified him as having all the qualities to challenge here and be one of the future great goalkeepers for Arsenal Football Club.'

While he lacks the experience required in this most specialised of positions, his basic abilities are top class. A quality shot stopper, he reads the game well and while he may have a few loose edges to smooth off, he is on course to be a top keeper for the next decade or so.