The Petr Cech steam train just keeps on … er … steaming.
The 33 year old has been linked consistently (and perhaps insistently) with a move to Arsenal over last few months, and the fact that the Chelsea goalkeeping coach, Christophe Lollichon, has publicly name-checked the Gunners in a radio interview has added more fuel to the fire.
Lollichon has been on the staff at Stamford Bridge since 2007, following Cech from French side Rennes, and the two have built a strong working relationship since.
And, speaking to RMC Radio about the goalkeeper’s future, he said via Jeremy Wilson in The Telegraph, “The Premier League is his primary objective. But it will also depends on the conditions.
“The advantage is that Arsenal is a top club, with a philosophy that pleases him and that is in London. It is a base for consideration.
“He wants to stay in England, but I don’t know where are the discussions.”
So, there you go. No smoke without fire and all that, but it feels like something is positively flaming here.
It’s time to break out the Poo-o-Meter on this one and we’re giving it a pretty solid 2 poos (remember: 10 poos means the story is full Daily Star/Caught Offside. The fewer poos the better it is).
UPDATE – Here’s some fresh quotes from Tomas Rosicky on whether or not he’s been talking to Petr Cech about a move.
“Obviously I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that I had been speaking to him because we have known each other for a very long time.
“Petr wants a change of scenery, let’s say, so I don’t think he will have a lack of clubs interested in him. We will see how it ends, but in this case I will not interfere at all from both sides.
“It’s his decision or Arsenal’s decision if they want to go in that way. I don’t know if Arsenal really want him or not. That’s not the right question for me, but he’s a very good goalkeeper. He’s a proven goalkeeper.”
Great keeper. But I rate Szcz and Osina.
Tough choice but I guess Cech is a great buy at £10m or thereabouts.
It won’t be just the money we hand over to Chelsea, it’ll be the high wage package he’ll demand. It’ll be a lot of money.
Given a choice between handing over top wages between a goalkeeper and a goalscorer – I’d go with the latter.
Did anyone say they’re mutually exclusive?
Of course not. But AW does live within his means. ‘Net spend’ calculations will be made.
46 million net spend last year, only on transfer fees.
If Wenger wants to buy only 2 players this summer, and players of the requisite quality do become available, then we will see him go all out for them.
Last two summers were the same so why not this one?
To be fair diaby should cover half his wages at least! Bring him in.
we went quite a few years with net spending in the negative, or very low positive. we can definitely spend big on multiple positions this season. and upcoming ones.
but i assume if we go big this season we will have a winning team for a long time without massive additions needed.
When you think about the amount of players we will let go at the end of this season, Cech’s high wages can be easily covered. Podolski, Diaby and Campbell alone will free us of 200k per week.
Also, we’ll likely see one of our keepers leave either permanently or on loan so (Ospina on 50-60k and Szczesny on about 70-80k) that’s further savings there.
Money isn’t and shouldn’t be an issue here.
Your right we should just give Stan some more money for the large range of services he provides….. and only look to improve one area of the pitch!
Funny enough Zlatan Ibrahimovic is available for around the same price, and he’s the same age (33) as Petr Cech.
Not meant to be a criticism of Giroud, but I think it’s physically impossible for Zlatan to bottle more than one straightforward goal-scoring chance in a single match.
A 33 year old goalkeeper probably has more time left at the top than a 33 year old striker
its not only about age and skill but also very much about character.. and you dont want that slatan in our group of players
helllllll no
Character? Well Cech definitely has the experience……but it irks me that he think he is able to walk into our first team straight away. If the form of Ospina/Scez can keep him out of the side, I wonder whether he will sulk then.
Not that I can see it happening but I would love to see Zlatan in our squad!
I do find this a strange one from Wenger because – he like to stoke pile offensive players for starters! – it’s just been a year since we bought a keeper – This has been smoking for nearly a year. Though we got ourselves some depth is that area. – Will make one of the current keepers surplus to requirements. – If there is a significant difference in the quality between the existing keepers and the one we are “interested” in, especially at the salary we need to pay. Having said that, Cech is probably one of the very few… Read more »
I hope we never have a pile of offensive stoke players!
A very succinct analysis. The question is, is a 33-year-old Cech who is on the downside of his career going to be a significant improvement on either of the keepers we already have? I’d argue no, it’s not. Szczesny is young, good, and improving, and Ospina was one of the top three keepers in the league last year. Cech would be a luxury buy, certainly not a necessity, and his purchase would probably require us to sell one of Ospina or Szczesny.
yeah really good & improving at smoking in changing rooms. Cech is proven world class. Our keepers are not. No brainer.
Ospina is not one of the top 3 keepers in the country. He is not even the best GK at the club.
why do we care about the wages? There’s no salary cap in footie!
If we sign Cech then he deserves to be paid amongst the top 5-10 keepers of the world.
I say go for it!
11 mil plus an +100k wage into a team with two very competitive, youngish goalkeepers who are both showing real promise. For me, this deal makes no sense and that money could be spent far more effectively elsewhere.
I agree about the fee, £10m or £11M for a 33 year old, second choice keeper with one year left on his contract is madness. His re-sale value would be virtually nil, and you’d image he’s only have two or three years as first choice here. By comparison we paid about £3.5m for Ospina and very little for Szczesny.
As for the wage, that’s just as much guesswork as the fee, I reckon journos sucked both figures out of their thumbs, but keepers generally don’t earn as amuch as outfield players, so £100k would be eye-watering.
Get rid of Poldi there’s your 100k & the deal makes plenty of sense when Cech is better than any goalkeeper we currently have at the club, I don’t think Ospina cuts the mustard & Scz could do with learning a thing or two from an experienced winning keeper
How about loaning Szczesny out for one or two seasons like Chelsea did with Curtois? Seems to me like the lad could use a change of scenery, and he could learn a lot working in say Germany. Would also give him the chance to learn more of the Neuer style goalkeeping he so craves.
Courtois was 20/21/22 when he was loaned out, Szczesny is now 25. And his style is not all that similar to Neuer’s.
the truth.
Spot on Aaron
peter cech is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. neither of our current Gks could be described anywhere near that level. this isn’t about bashing them, its about realising we could bring in one of the best in the world. for £10m. why would we NOT do that exactly?
I think the issue is more how higly people rate Cech, it would be stupid to not bring in one of the worlds best, but I don’t believe he is. If Szczesny has his head in the right place, there really isn’t much to choose between them imo so if Szczesny is willing to wrest his position back from Ospina then we’d be chosoing between a 33 year old with no-where left to go or a younger guy with potential to improve, a tougher choice.
The ideal scenario is to loan Sczcz out to a top top club for a number of years, much like what Cortouis was doing with Atletico. When Cech hangs up his, err gloves, Sczcz can come back and reclaim his rightful place. He is still VERY young for a goalkeeper. Cech main GK, Ospina cup keeper and Martinez back up. Above all I’d just like to see this deal go through so just we can take one of Chelsea’s legend and goad them over it.
I’m pretty sure we would have won the league with him this season . Although I’m quite happy with Os (not so much Szcz ) they are not as good as him . He probably would have saved us 9 to 12 points last year .
Why do u think Maureen doesn’t want to sell him to us !
just a two poo. this is nailed on then.
so what was the question that led to that answer?
” “The advantage is that Arsenal
is a top club, with a philosophy
that pleases him and that is in
London. It is a base for
consideration.”
That sounds like an answer to me
I just watched on arsenalfantv, robbie met ivan gazidis last night at our new home kit launched. Ivan has confirmed the petr cech rumours is not just a rumours. The talk is being held with chelsea & céch himself. And the club is very delightful to have a player like céch. Now, we can just pray & hope the deal is being completed any soon and there’s no problem during the talk.
For the life of me can’t find that video even though it was yesterday.
It’s here dude, the video i talked about https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ4_7CdSXww
Thank you muchly sir
I hate the transfer season
Totally agree mate. I don’t listen to anything until its confirmed on arsenal.com or arseblog. Soil long til the new season starts! I actually have to spend weekends with the family.
We’ve achieved a lot of progress this season. Clearly the three positions we seem in need, if any, are striker, goalkeeper and central midfielder. In other words, the spine. GK and Striker in many people’s eyes are good but not great right now. I am not convinced about Ospina, but do think Sczc is very good if he stops being a knucklehead. That said, if we can get Cech for a decent price, that immediately strengthens our side. Think about Cech in the team sheet for a big match or any other match, and think about how you’ll feel as… Read more »
You’ve just summed up the Cech situation brilliantly with that last line. I wasn’t sure about it, but you’re damn right.
well i will not feel like that. cechs days are long gone.. you live from youtube memories..
For me, Ospina is a keeper that isn’t going to lose you any points, while Szezcnsy is one who can win you them. Just a question really as to whether it’s more likely Ospina will improve so he can do the latter as well, or if Szezcnsy is more likely to drop the silliness and eradicate the errors. For me, it’s a no brainer- when Szezcnsy is on form he’s up there with the best keepers in the league. I’m still yet to see Ospina pull out a save where you say he had no right to do so. Cech… Read more »
Would be fun to have Cech just to parade him round our ground whenever Chelsea are afoot.
“Look shitheads, we have your boy. That’s right, we got him. Behave or we start mailing him back to you. One finger at a time. What’s that you say Maureen? Talking shit again? Really? OK guys, bring out the bolt croppers, see how that gobby Portuguese cunt likes his mail next delivery.”
Then I guess occasionally we could use him as a goal keeper as well. For shits and giggles.
IF we do end up signing Cech and not having to lose one of our homegrown players to that cunt Moan-inho it must mean Szc would have to leave, he’s one that is Arsenal through and through and he has made it clear he wants to WIN his spot back in the team. Cech will also command big wages, IMO that could be spent on a “goalscorer” (as Nacho said in his interview) which could definitely help us have a more sustained push for the title. However if Welbz, Theo and Ox contribute more on that front it would certainly… Read more »
Why can’t we sign Cech AND a goal-scorer? It’s not like we’re broke.
I don’t want to offend anyone and make hasty conclusions here but this is the problem with Arsenal mentality. The wages. I say fuck them. Buy Cech and then watch how our defense will gain confidence. We can let our midfielders and strikers be youthful prospects trying to prove ourselves but when it comes to a goalkeeper he better be fucking rock solid and Cech is that. Ospina and Szez are great and they have shown flashes of brilliance but a title challenge isn’t based on “flashes”, it’s based on consistency and Cech has always been consistent.
The poo-o-meter says it all
This will be a brilliant signing for us. Don’t care what pple say. We really need this guy.
If at all he comes then I think we shoukd keep ospina as backup nd send Scez somewhere on loan
Personally, I would like to see Szcz become Cech’s padawan learner…
If we end up signing cech,I would like wenger to persist with szczesny as probably our keeper in cup games. Something similar to what Barcelona did with bravo and Ter sten. This would be very harsh on ospina but you need to be a little ruthless to win titles.
And I do think szczesny is a better keeper than ospina and add to it the room for improvement considering his young age and the fact that he is homegrown makes it a little bit easier to choose.
Feel really sorry for ospina but that’s just the way it is.
As for the young age there is only one year difference between SZCZ and Ospina…
It’s almost two years. Regardless of it I see more potential in szczesny to improve and he’s an intelligent player. Also he is more suited to the premier League because of his size. Can you imagine ospina coming out for a cross against benteke the way szczesny did in the final.
It would be my personal choice which might differ from yours. But I think szczesny can be a great keeper if he keeps his head straight.
I agree, Opsina did a really good job this year, but it does feel like we have more invested in Szcz long-term. So if one had to leave, it’s not so much that I hope it’s Ospina, more like I hope it’s not Szcz.
It just hit me all of Petr Cech books are called Cech-books.
*Interllul..blame it on the Interllul*
I think signing Cech is a no brainer, we are willing to upgrade in other areas of the pitch so why not here? Admittedly it will be ruthless on one of the keepers (I think SZCZ) but we need to progress and this would be progression and 1st team improvement.
I still have a small doubt about Chelsea’s intentions but it’s looking more solid day by day…like the poo…
Podolski is apparently on £100k a week, let’s sell him… Give his wages to Cech and loan out Szczesny for a couple of mill with his wages covered
Problem solved….. Not like it is a problem, Arsene’s pleading poverty when our accounts spell out the opposite
This sounds exactly like the Serge Aurier transfer rumour from last summer. Lots of commentators think he would be a good fit, the guy himself and his manager talk up Arsenal and seem to want to come, but there is no indication at all that Wenger is interested. Except last year it was pretty clear we needed a right back (even if in retrospect Bellerin and Jenkinson could have worked well), while this year it’s not at all clear cut we need a goalkeeper. Just because neither of out goalkeepers is as good as De Gea doesn’t necessarily mean we… Read more »
Cech can have the same effect as Lehman did, experience and leadership is something money can’t buy. Great bit of business if he comes.
Hear hear.
My problem with us (Arsenal fans) is sometimes we don’t appreciate ours. I really don’t see any problem with us having Ospina and Szceszny for next season afterall Szceszny shared the golden glove with that Cech two seasons ago meaning He is not as bad as we are meant to believe
He might have shared the golden glove but let’s not forget the games he did concede he conceded 5,6,7,8 goals etc
I don’t think he was at fault for most of those goals though (I’m sure someone could nitpick, nobody is completely blameless in a match situation after all), let’s not forget that Cech once conceded 5 against us either, back when we only had one real goalscorer.
In which games in 13-14 did Szczesny concede 7 or 8 goals? And in the games where he conceded 5 or 6, in which of those games did we (a) play our best four defenders, and (b) finish with eleven men?
Yeah I like Szceszny too. But the start of the last season was seriously disappointing. He had his chance and blow it away with unprofessional behaviour and poor performances. As for Ospina, his stats looks good. But look at his awkward saves and the strange goals he leaks in and you can see a picture of a keeper that is not a very good shot stopper. Unlike Szceszny who looked utterly brilliant 2 seasons back. So it is Cech time for me. If Chelsea can send their GK out for 2 seasons and get a world beater in return, we… Read more »
Can’t understand anyone against this transfer. The type of signing that is needed to challenge for the league. 33 is no age for a Keeper who is still at the top of his game. You only need look at United’s signing of Van Der Sar at 34, to see the impact of such a player. Goalkeeper position being sorted would be a relief after 8 or so years of inconsistency and clangers.
Or check out the 33 year old goalkeeper we signed and then went undefeated in the league
Think it’s a great signing. He’s still one of the games top keepers. Reminds me a bit of Utd signing Van der Sar when he was 34 or 35 but still had another 5 years left in him
What colour head-thingy would he wear?
OMG. I just realised something. His name’s Cech and he’s Czech.
Honestly. Look it up.
For me, he would be a good signing. A great keeper with something to prove is an formidable recipe. Like people have been saying, he’s still got at least 5 years left in him.
It would be a bit harsh on the two current keepers though but just Szceszny a coffee with a pack of B&H and he’ll forget about it.
My ponytail flicked up at this.
In seriousness, it would be similar to van der sar moving to Man Utd. Loan one of the other keepers out, like Chelsea did with Courtois and then when Cech retires, bring the loanee back from wherever and you’re sorted.
We know that title winning teams have a world class keeper, and we know that currently our two aren’t world class. Proven winner, proven in the league, proven in Europe, proven leader. Nuff said. As for our current two, it’s more what Wenger wants to do with Szczesny. He may want to keep him at the club to keep an eye on him and have him learn from Cech, but it might be good for him to go online and play every week, hopefully at a club that will play in Europe and also push for the title in their… Read more »
Do we really think Hart was ‘world class’ two seasons ago?
This is true, Hart seems to fade in between. I’m not convinced by him but a lot seem to be. Maybe he’s the exception to the rule as the rest of the squad cost a billion pounds (still sounds like an exaggeration but it’s not!)
Top class player. But Arsenal having a philosophy that pleases him is bullocks. I distinctly remember Cech dissing the fact that we don’t win trophies despite attractive football. I finally found the link!
“In the end you count the titles and if you have figure skating where you are judged by how nicely your routine is then obviously that is one point,” said Cech. “But football is about points and goals and you need to get points to win trophies.”
Cech responded after Arsenal fans chanted: “Boring Chelsea” during their clash at the Emirates. This is from December 2013.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/petr-cech-takes-aim-arsenal-2958796
Where do all the pictures of Cech without his hat keep appearing from? Is that his real hair? Why is no one attacking the real issues here?
The number 1 rule of Arsene Wenger transfer dealings: the more press coverage, the lesser chance the transfer will happen.
does that mean it’s finally time for Sebastien Frey?
Czech In! …. Please.
Cech coming here is a no Brainer, Gives Defense confidence and strengthens team. However given the amount of coverage it’s getting won’t be surprised to see him end up at United or PSG. after all Paris is just a tube ride away
I’ll keep Ospina simply because of his marvelous goal kick chant.
Ooooooooooospina!
If we did sign him I’d want him to wear an astronaut helmet. That would look cool.
In fact his whole kit could me a space suit. It would have everything he needs – padding, gloves, hat.
*be a space suit
i have no idea if there’s any truth to the rumors, wouldn’t be surprised either way, but the idea that cech is available and some on this site wouldn’t sign him over our current goalkeeping options is laughable. this is a no brainer. we’d have one of the best goalkeepers of the past decade with 3-5 great years still in him. i think szcz is a joke at this point and a mid-table keeper at best. benched at arsenal. benched for poland. had the potential and blew it. loris is better than him…think about that…spurs have a better keeper than… Read more »
Fuck me I am really bored with this…..
Cech please, table one!
I like Ospina and Sczesny but I can’t remember a single game where they made an outstanding save that scored us points in the League. DeGea, Cortois, and even Foster seemed to do that every other week. I think we need those extra points next year and Cech is probably the most likely guy to do it. I hope Arsene’s goes for it. Anyone that thinks Ospina was the 3rd best goalie is crazy. The defense played great in front of him. Coq Kos and Per were rock solid. He made the routine saves very nicely, but never the brilliant… Read more »
If it means swapping The Ox they can all fuck off