Arsenal’s former goalkeeping coach, and double-winning keeper, Bob Wilson, believes that Petr Cech is a signing that will improve the Gunners and that the player is nowhere near past his best.
The 33 year old’s move from Chelsea seems to be imminent, and when speaking to BBC 5 live today, Wilson certainly talked as if the deal was little more than a formality.
In the past he’s lauded the potential of Wojciech Szczesny, but says Arsenal would be ‘fools’ not to bring in the Czech international.
“I think it’s an amazing signing,” he said. “You know, people will look at the two who are there – Wojciech Szczesny and David Ospina – and the the point really is that if you can improve your team in any way you’d be fools not to do it.
“So, he’s 33 now, he still has 5 or 6 season of greatness in him and he’s going to give Arsenal that assurance at the back that they really need.
“When a side wins the league it starts with the man at the back and usually when a side wins the league the goalkeeper usually has an amazing season. I’m not saying he’s the best keeper in the world as of this moment, but for him it’s a marvellous move.
“I was goalkeeping coach at Arsenal for 28 years, I had Pat Jennings and David Seaman as two amazing goalkeepers I was able to coach, I would have loved to have got my hands on Petr Cech.
“Its another step towards the title. Everyone Arsenal are very close to having a squad that almost matches Chelsea, almost matches Manchester City. I think everybody knows Arsenal are minimum 2, maybe 3, good signings to really challenge Chelsea.
“We didn’t know what we were getting when we were getting Alexis Sanchez, that he was this world class player, but we certainly know what we’re getting with Petr Cech and what he can bring to the side.”
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So, there you go. We’re not sure he’s got as long left in him as Bob reckons, but if he can have the impact of a Lehmann, for example, we’ll be happy to take that for a few seasons.
Great keeper, great defence, great DM and not bad attacking.
Next season, here we come!
Fee has been agreed so now it is a practical certainty. Roll on Friday when we know for sure.
Totally agree! Cech is a quality signing and it’s great to see Arsene looking to strengthen what is already a decent position. That shows a winning mentality!
Now let’s push this deal through and get Cech integrated in the team.
COYG!
It won’t feel like watching Arsenal if my heart isn’t in my mouth everyone a cross comes into the area!
Lol, no. Then again the cup final showed that if you have a good pressing system your keeper can punch everything that comes into the box without too many worries.
Yeah that work only against Tactic Tim’s teams.. Its not that simple
Don’t worry, Cech has the odd dreadful game just to keep supporters living on their nerves.
But I’m still not convinced that MaureenO will let this happen. Give him a chance to screw us over and he’ll take it…..
And I still remember Bob Wilson in 1971, great match in the FA Cup, won the league at Tottenham, the one and only Arsenal.
can we all celebrate a signing of great player without referring his previous cuntish coach?
D’oh.
Say “the previous manager” not the coach. We are also getting his coach (goal keeping coach) 😀
Cech will be a great signing, but what about Ospina? He doesn’t deserve to go! Hopefully Szczesny will step his game up and reach his potential in the near future!
People always say that Àrsene isn’t ruthless these days. Well here’s his chance. The team comes before any player
I think we can be pretty sure that we’ve already seen the best Ospina has to give, as he had a really good season. He is a reliable keeper who just doesn’t seem to have the physical attributes to make the saves that really win you points. If he isn’t good enough to be our number 1 now, he probably won’t be in a couple of years time either. Szczesny (or Martinez) might still become our future number 1, so the logical one to move on would be Ospina. Off course, if Szczesny doesn’t want to be a certain number… Read more »
People keep on saying Ospina cannot be a great goalkeeper because of his height. The guy si not short ( 6 ft) therefore it depends on how high he can jump and the timing for doing that. The fact he is the goalkeeper for Colombia proves his height hasn’t been a problem. Cech was once the best goalkeeper in the world after Oliver Khan era but is it time for him to start making errors like Lehman did ? We’ll see. For me, Martinez on loan and Ospina and Szcesny will fight for second place or push Peter Cech on… Read more »
I hope Cech turns out as good for us as most gooners have been proclaiming. I have my doubts about the benefits of this deal and most especially for £11m. He was already making mistakes in 2013/14 season and some of my Chelsea-supporter friends were wondering why their keeper was propelling Athletico to La Liga while their team stuck with a keeper that was past his best days.
Hm, 2013/14. He made team of the season that year didn’t he?
Yep and golden glove winner with most clen sheets.
Tied with some other dude. Polish bloke, I think.
I’d have to agree with clement a bit as well. I’m a bit on the fence with the Cech signing as well. That year 13/14 the Chavs parked the bus that entire season so those cleans sheets were greatly contributed by the Chavs defense. Not to mention Arsenal also played a bit deeper.
I’m hoping for the best with Cech’s signing (In Arsene I trust) and that cunt, JT, is right about Cech earning Arsenal 12-15 pts for the season.
COYG!!!
Definitely can’t trust this until it’s signed, sealed and Mourinho is spinning snide nonsense at the press about it. But when that point arrives, a great signing which strengthens is and weakens NoHistory FC.
How great would it be if we sign Cech & then Courtois were to get injured?! Especially when the replacement that Chelsea is going after is Begoiovich?
….or Rob Green!
I feel like I can’t get excited about this until I see it on the .com!
Mourinho is an absolute thundercunt and I just can’t see this one pulling off (trying some reverse psychology here).
Although I had this same feeling about Ozil and Alexis and that turned out alright, I guess.
So the Cech so far is in the Mail but it has not been signed yet.
Well its in the mail; there’s the answer to your question. Mail is an equivalent to that of metro
I really hope Cech doesn’t have a wobbly one in first few months. That could heap pressure on him, triggering a vicious cycle of nervous defending and more wobbles. What? I’m not cynical!
In terms of probability, Cech is the least likely of all 3 GKs (inc the ones we have) to have a wobble. He is very tall, very calm, and an excellent thrower and kicker. Therefore this is a great signing (if confirmed).
I don’t think he will have a wobbly one. He has a point to prove to the cunt one.
Next up Mario Gotze!
Reus
Great players but we don’t need either of them, which of your favorite players are you going to drop? the only sort of free space is on the right, but what about Ox, Walcott, Wilshere, and Ramsey, all of which could and have been played on the right. Sanchez on the left, none of those players can really play CF (Walcott maybe), Ozil, Cazorla, Coq in midfield with plenty of backup and young talent waiting to get in. Cech would be a brilliant signing for Arsenal, what we have seriously lacked for years is a super top quality keeper. Other… Read more »
Götze is overrated.
Keep telling yourself that…
He’s a better number 10 than Wilshere. We don’t need him anyways since we have ozil, santi and jack.
Still Chelsea we are dealing with. Still that special worm managing them. Lasana Diarra, Gallas was a long time ago and had an Ashley Cole in there. Yosi was post and pre the moaning one. That idiot convinced Madrid to loan Sahin to Liverpool with his heart on a team with champions league football. At one time it looked like we had him in the bag for a year’s loan then we get the nonsense from Jose how they had to do what’s best for Madrid, how it was easier to get into the pool team (although true) and so… Read more »
As I understand the situation, it’s not up to Moaninho.
Abramovic sanctioned free choice as a gesture to a great servant. It would be counter productive to allow a megathundercuntunderlord to scupper the move or aggravate/complicate the life of the aforementioned great servant.
I actually think we dodged a bullet with sahin.
This isn’t slavery. They can’t sell Cech’s contract to PSG without him agreeing to it.
could be a pat jennings style signing – rescuing a quality goalkeeper cast aside too early by idiotic london neighbours obsessed with style over substance
and frankly i’d rather trust bob wilson’s opinion on a ‘keeper than anybody else, so if bob’s saying it’s a good job then i’ll take him at his word.
Why is it taking so long to get this signing completed?
It wouldn’t surprise me if Wenger somehow manages to mess this up.
Get on with it!
because AW wants to save £1 and sign Cech for £10,999,999. WENGER OUT!
U really want Wenger out? Can I ask why?
Have you ever worked on a multi-million dollar/pound contract? I have. Granted mine was for data center and outsourcing services but it was quite complicated nonetheless. It is a long tedious process to get lawyers to agree to anything. And it doesn’t hurt that lawyers are paid by hour so it is to their benefit to drag it out.
Have I ever negotiated a multi-million pound contract? Yes: trying to stop my wife from maxing out my credit cards.
We have an imposter here.
Not for long.
Fatgooners twin?
Like you have a credit limit of that size? (no pun intended).
Be grateful that this is happening so early in the summer.
Any truth in that Jackson Martinez speculations? he would be a great addition I might add 🙂
The Metro has been reporting it for weeks now, so it must be true.
Jackson Martinez is seriously a poor man’s Benteke. Very reliant on his strength and speed… Final touch and finish is okay. Ive been following him since he played in Mexico and think he’s very overrated. Rather spend 37mil on Cavani.
Keep telling yourself that…poor man’s benteke.
Just like ibra is a poor man’s peter crouch right??
1) Remember the Demba Ba situation, anyone?
2) Like blogs, I fail to understand the collective jizzism that seems to be happening over Cech. He ain’t all that.
This is hilarious. We are signing one of the best keepers in the world (yes, he is) and that is something the Arsenal fans has asked for for a long time now and still some people will complain and rise doubts. Pathetic.
He’s good, he’s top 5 in the Premiership and has plenty of experience, and he improves us as he is better than Ospina, but he hasn’t been one of the best in the world for a long time.
Can’t blame people for not watching Chelsea much though, they are still Chelsea.
Look at the list of top PL clean sheets*. Locate Cech. Compare his current age to that of others on the list – retired or otherwise. Come to a pleasing conclusion. *Clean sheets is by no means a definitive, just indicative. I feel Cech + SZCZ > SZCZ + Ospina / Cech + Ospina. We will be getting 3-5 years of great goalkeeping that affords tutelage to SZCZ, and offers daily competition with an accomplished player who has achieved all we want for our players. The defensive unit and goalkeeping department become instantly stronger with this signing. Third time in… Read more »
Anyone remember van der sar going to Man utd and saying he was past his best when he went there….then went on to be the best keeper in the division for a long time?
I think this could be one of those moves…
“I had Pat Jennings and David Seaman as two amazing goalkeepers I was able to coach”
Poor John Lukic…
Not really.. Lukic was at fault for our only loss of the 90-91 season if my memories correct. Megged against who else but the chavs
Wasn’t Liverpool our only loss that season?
My mistake. As you were.
Big Dave was in between the sticks that season…
Lukic was good but seaman was much better. In seaman and jennings you have 2 of english football’s all time greats. Lukic was was probably about the fith best in league during his time with arsenal.
I must admit I did not think Wenger would decide to prioritize on this with both Szsc and Ospina still young and developing, the latter just signed.
However what a signing it would be to start the summer.
ing
Vast experience adds capability NOW for us.
And his height at 6’5 will add authority. We will now have plenty of strength dealing with crosses (where we leaked most of our goals first half of season)
Looks very likely to be done with Ornstein, the Guardian now weighing in.
Was anybody else feeling nervous before the cup final with the prospect of Ospina having to catch or punch high balls lumped into the area aimed towards Benteke ? I know i was and I was extremely pleased to see Szczesny make the team sheet. Would be sad to see Ospina go as he did an ok job for us but he is too short to be world class. With Petr Cech in goal we would have no such worries.
If Cech is truly committed to keeping his settled family in London (a conscientious family man, shock horror!), then I think we are all giving Roman and Jose far too much credit in assuming that they are “letting him go.” Cech has one year left on his contract and if he is committed to staying in London then Chelsea have two options: sell him now to an interested buyer that suits his desires or let him go to that buyer for free next year. (They can’t sell him to PSG against his will, he has to agree to it too.… Read more »
Choices Wenger had to make far to often with his own players, Nasri, Fabregas, RVP, etc… Money always wins to letting them walk away for nothing.
We didn’t know what we were getting when we signed Alexis Sanchez….?! Well excuse me Bobby but I think we allllllll knew pretty damn well what we were getting, and we wanted it.
Yeah, I wondered about that statement too. I knew exactly what we were getting and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read about the final deal. Had to have a new pair of trousers delivered at work and spent days cleaning the walls of my office.
I am over-excited about this and I love it!
Getting annoyed about thumbs downers that do it for no reason…might get my coat on here…
Pierre Emerik-Aubameyang. Did I spelt that right? Exiting time ahead indeed
Same level as Giroud in terms of goal return but a guy who can beat defences and create a goal for himself. With the same goal return, does it matter how the goal is scored ? I mean, not a major improvement to Giroud. He does have margin for progress though.
I’m not going to believe this until it’s announced officially. I normally do once I see something fairly solid on the BBC but I won’t take chances when Maureen is involved.
This is a bad, bad idea and you can quote me on that. The only reason this sale would be made is if Cech is damaged goods. Or do people really believe the Ruski and his Portugese bitch actually care about Cech’s welfare?