EXCLUSIVE: No 1 wasn't a matter of time, but I wasn't going to stop until I had it

Wojciech Szczesny's eyes light up when I tell him about 'Halleluja', a German pop record featuring his new team-mate Lukas Podolski.



'I'm getting on that straight away, I've got to watch it,' he says, displaying all the child-like enthusiasm with which he plays and carries himself in public. It's an attitude that has seen him already achieve a cult status among Arsenal fans.



'Believe it or not, I wanted to be a singer,' he adds. 'It is still my biggest dream, but I just can't sing.'



You wouldn't bet against him achieving it one day, though.



Safe hands: Wojciech Szczesny has gone from Arsenal Reserves to his country's No 1 in four years

The son of an international goalkeeper, powerfully built, athletic and with encouragement at home - from Mum as opposed to famous father Maciej - Szczesny has had all the ingredients to reach the pinnacle of his career.



That he is already No 1 for his club and country is testament to the ambition and pride in what he does, traits that are often misconstrued as arrogance.



By his own admittance, the 22-year-old suffered with an inflated ego in his youth, a product of simply being wildly more successful than the rest of those in his age group; he made his professional debut for the club he'd supported as a boy, Legia Warsaw, at the age of just 15.



His drive, though, can be traced back to wanting to prove to a point.



I ask what it was like growing up in the shadow of a famous father. 'It was embarrassing really. The thing I found a little bit hard when I was younger was the constant comparisons. I can't deny we look the same in goal, we move the same, I can see that.



'But it is hard as a young kid, you want to make your own name rather than have people saying, "that's Szczensy's kid".



After turning 16, young Wojciech had forged enough of his own reputation to catch Arsenal's eye and arrived in London in 2006 brimming with confidence.



'It is only when I came here and saw the amount of talent they have at this club, that I realised I'm just one of many. I knew it would take something special for me to breakthrough.



Driven to success: Sportsmail's Matt Fortune discussed Szczesny's rise to prominence from his early life

Wojciech Szczesny exclusive Szczesny was talking to Sportsmail to launch the new Nike Maxim LFP, the ball that will be used in the Premier League this season. Geo II Balanced technology utilizes geometric precision to help distribute pressure evenly across all panels around the ball for a consistent, accurate, and powerful strike, no matter where you hit the ball. He says: 'We all play with the same ball in the Premier League. Sometimes it will move all over the place and it could cause you an embarrassment, but the next day it’ll happen to your opponents so I don’t think it makes much difference. '



'Although I still feel pretty confident about my own ability, I knew I needed to work hard to back that up. The move to Arsenal changed me.



'I knew this was the biggest chance I would ever get in my life to make it as a professional, and I don't mean playing back home in Poland and just making a living out of it.



'All I was focussed on was training. For the first two years it was all about training, going home, resting, coming back.



'The only reason I joined is because one day I believed I could be Arsenal No 1. Every step I made along the way was something to be proud of.



'I don't want to say it was a matter of time before I got it, but for me I wasn't going to stop until I got it.



'Of course now I am here, it isn't the end of the journey - you have to prove yourself worthy of wearing that shirt. That is what I am looking forward to.'



The Pole has not had it all his own way, notably when a freak gym accident left him with two broken arms. But coping with setbacks is part and parcel of being a goalkeeper. You are, I venture, defined by the mistakes you make.



'I think the beauty of this job is you are never in the middle,' he says. 'You are either up here or down there. If you make a mistake you get blamed for losing the game. But there is no better thing than coming back and making good saves and earning the three points the next week.



'The responsibility is what I love about it. Do I find it hard to cope with? Not really. Everyone makes mistakes, you just have to focus on what is coming and make sure they don't always happen. A big part of being a professional goalkeeper is learning from your mistakes and not letting them get to you.'



Ups and the downs: He won't dwell on mistakes, shifting focus to the next opportunity to make amends

The Carling Cup final fiasco in 2011 - when the young stopper and Laurent Koscielny failed to clear their lines, inviting Birmingham's Obafemi Martins the chance to roll home the simplest of winning goals - will haunt Szczesny until he clasps his first piece of silverware.

So, too, will this summer's European Championships in his homeland when, as his country's No 1, he was sent off in the second half of the opening fixture against Greece. He didn't feature again as the hosts crashed out with two draws and a defeat from their Group A fixtures.



Szczesny, though, insists their efforts sent a wave of euphoria and national pride across Poland, much like that experienced by Great Britain following the recent Olympic Games.



'The reaction of the people was very positive,' he explains. 'Of course the team didn't do so well, I got sent off, but everyone is proud of how we hosted the tournament. That is what was most important for the country - obviously I wish we had done much better and won it, but it wasn't meant to be.



'I speak to people, and they loved it, they were proud. You see it England now, flags everywhere, you see that national pride.



'As a team we wanted to do something for the country, by giving our best. We did. The day after we got knocked out we went to a fanzone in Warsaw and 50,000 people cheered us even though we had been knocked out. That showed us what people thought. That is all you can ask for.

Moving on up: Szczesny is intent on maintaining his upward trajectory for club and country

'The results haven't been very good recently, and we are trying to change that. But that isn't what is most important when playing for the national team, it is about feeling the pride when you pull on the shirt, when you hear the anthem. You have to give your best, and if it doesn't work that's football. Playing for your country is the best feeling in the world.'



With that wind still firmly in his sails, don't expect Szczesny to slow down now.



