Petr Cech has confirmed that Italian side Napoli were interested in signing him this summer, but says that he has no intention of leaving Arsenal.
The veteran was handed the number 1 shirt earlier this summer, and looks set to compete with new signing Bernd Leno for a place in the side.
The German became the club’s most expensive ever goalkeeper when he joined from Bayer Leverkusen for €25m last month, and while the price-tag suggests he’s likely to be the first choice, Cech is ready to fight.
“There was interest from Napoli, it’s true, but my future is at Arsenal,” he said.
“I am not thinking about a change of club. Now there are three in competition for the Arsenal gloves and I am ready.”
David Ospina is already considering his future, saying he’ll make a decision after the World Cup, and he appears the most likely to make way. The 29 year old will face England in the knock-out stages on Tuesday.
Three senior keepers is unsustainable, and the Colombian has surprisingly been linked with a move to Turkey, something which has never happened before.
Anyone else hoping Uruguay get knocked out by France and Torreira has one of those very bad games which may say a lot about your inability at the time but really never tell how good you are?
Not sure I agree with having a bad game but will be good to see torreria vs kante before our 2nd league game, vs Chelsea.
You mean stats wise right because typically DMs don’t mark each other because WHY
He turns out tournament’s best cm if they go far and will be labeled the next big thing which will make it awfully hard to get him
You could even see Torreira vs Kante on Friday when France play Uruguay in the quarter finals!
I think Kante will probably be unavailable to Chelsea that soon after winning after the final.
His performance gave me nightmares of City putting in an $80m bid.
I have never hoped for an Arsenal (or soon-to-be-Arsenal) player to have a bad game internationally or to not go as far as possible in a tournament. I just don’t agree with that thinking. it’s selfish. hope for our players to succeed and in the end that will only help their careers flourish..
If he does succeed and win the World Cup in your scenario, your ‘soon to be Arsenal player’ is no Arsenal player at all.
I was just hoping uruguay got knocked oug so that we can do the deal sooner.
I don’t, I’ve put money on them to win the tournament.
Gone are the days of a number one who plays every game with his understudies never getting a look in. Numerous teams now have ‘first team’ quality back ups. By that I mean back up keepers who would walk into teams 5 or 6 places below them in their respective leagues. Cech has been a world class keeper in his career.. But I personally feel the key words there being ‘has been’ he has been as good as szez since he joined from Chelsea… Many wondered why they sanctioned a deal, with people claiming that roman allowed it from the… Read more »
Except that’s exactly what happens at pretty much every other major club. Arsenal are one of the only clubs who didn’t play their starting keeper in the champions league (Barcelona haven’t rotated in a few years). Most major clubs still primarily just use their back up keeper in domestic cups
Cech has been a positive signing overall, but had an indifferent season last season. His first year I thought he was brilliant, he was a calm presence that gave the team some sort of stability when there was a lot of instability in that position. I remember when we signed almunia and lehman was about 35 years old, we all thought he was going to replace Lehman and be our number 1 for years to come, but that competition for places gave Lehman that extra drive to raise his performance levels. I would like to see us sell ospina with… Read more »
Is he writing Cechs his reflexes cannot cash? Igloo get my hoodie…
*I’ll get my..
I preferred igloo 😉
I actually liked the pun. Igloo? Hoodie? Shame it was all in error.
I preferred Igloo
It will be interesting to see how Emery will approach the GK situation – meaning whether he embarks onto the Wenger’s model where each GK gets his fair share of game time in different competitions, or if the number one gets to start all the games unless injured or out of form. From what we know, I’m guessing it’s the former – Leno will be a starter for PL, Cech for the EL & others. I’m thinking there were some guarantees made otherwise he would be looking for a new club this summer – make no mistake, he could still… Read more »
The reality is that although Cech looked iffy last year, he was behind a defence that was disfunctional.
Hopefully a stronger / more focussed defence will help the keepers considerably.
I agree with this and would go one step further to say that with our new GK coach he may be able to ‘improve’ Cech. Given our track record with Goalkeepers since Lehman left it’s no coincidence that our ex-keepers have gone on to improve with what we can presume has been better coaching at their new clubs. We cannot underestimate the importance of good coaching no matter how experienced you are. I see no reason why Cech cannot perform for another 2-3 seasons.
Va Fa Napoli. Actually I don’t mind if he stays. Has won shit and can be good guide.
So what’s the deal with Martinez? What’s gonna happen to him?
I’m still intrigued and interested in him at least competing for the cup games.
Once Ospina goes he’s still #3, once Cech retires or decides to move he can go to #2 and potentially competing for starts if both parties see it that way.
But considering they’re almost the same age, we’ll see what Emi’s thoughts are on his career path given Emery and the club don’t see him as ready for competing for first team regularity yet.
If Petr is openly talking about Napoli, then there was contact and it seems that Arsenal were comfortable with that.
So I guess that Emery was open to letting Cech leave, but is also quite happy to see him stay as experienced cover for Leno and Ospina will probably leave instead.
Not sure where that leaves Martinez and/or Macey, both will probably have to move on to get regular 1st team football, because in a couple of years we could have Joao Virginia pushing for a spot in the senior squad.
after torreira’s performance against Portugal, I’m fully convinced and hope he joins. here’s hoping no one affiliated with man shitty saw him or else they’ll bid £150m.
I’d rather Cech left than Ospina. Cech is getting worse each season, and I feel it was only his reputation keeping him in the team last season. With a decent coaching setup all our goalies should improve next season and we won’t need a mentor so much. He’s also on a big salary that could be better used elsewhere. He doesn’t want to leave, but I don’t see him playing much next year, he’s past his best and we need to look to the future.
1. I dont mind Chech moving on.
2. If he stays, which it seems he does, I hope there is no nonsense of keeping-keeper-happy rotation anymore
3. Any keeper handed number 1 has not been a constant player as history here suggests.