What can Petr Cech offer Arsenal?

 

Arsenal are reportedly closing in on a deal to sign 33-year-old goalkeeper Petr Cech from Premier League rivals Chelsea. The Czech Republic international has been rumoured with a move away from Stamford Bridge for a few months now and Arsenal have been the favourites for his signature.

The veteran goalkeeper has been a long-serving player for Chelsea, arriving from Rennes in 2004. Cech has kept a club record of 220 clean sheets for the Blues in all competitions and has won the Golden Glove three times in 2004-05, 2009-10 and 2013-14. And during the 2004-05 season, he went 1,025 minutes without conceding a goal – a Premier League record, until surpassed by Edwin van der Sar in 2009-10. Cech is not short of medals either as during his time at Chelsea he managed to win four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and of course the prestigious Champions League – once.

Arsenal currently have two International goalkeepers on their books, David Opsina and Wojciech Szczęsny, however with rumours from Turkey reporting that a deal for David Opsina to join Fenerbache is close, it looks like Arsenal’s chances of signing Petr Cech have increased even further. With Arsenal constantly switching between goalkeepers, they have struggled to find a permanent first-team keeper and Wenger feels this is an area that Arsenal clearly need to improve on as a string of poor performances from Szczęsny left him out of favour. After all, he only managed two clean sheets all season.

What can Petr Cech offer Arsenal?

A keeper still playing near the best of his ability and being only 33-years-old, he still has a few years before he retires and he offers Arsenal some well needed Premier League experience between the sticks. Cech could possibly be the best goalkeeper Arsenal can get right now on the market and he’s available for only £10 million. And no, he isn’t too old – remember Jens Lehmann? Very much like Lehmann, Petr Cech can be a consistently world class goalkeeper for Arsenal in the next few seasons and it’s something they have been lacking for years now. Cech isn’t just an experienced goalkeeper though, he’s also a leader of men and has superb command of his area. Over the years, we have seen some great performances from Cech making world class saves to win points for his team, and he could be the missing piece of the jigsaw for Arsenal’s defensive area.

And it looks like with Tony Roberts, the goalkeeping coach at Arsenal, departing to Swansea, that Petr Cech could bring his own goalkeeping coach from Chelsea along with him to Arsenal and therefore maintaining the same training schedule that he’s had for years ensuring there’s not too much of a change for the Czech international. Cech’s experience could also be beneficial to Wojciech Szczęsny as Cech could act as a personal mentor for the Polish international.

A deal edges closer, and if the Gunners do manage to sign the Chelsea goalkeeper, it could be a real coup and a statement of Arsenal’s title credentials.