It seems as if Chelsea are set to sell goalkeeper Thibaus Courtois to Real Madrid. The Belgian international is into the final year of his contract and has shown no willingness to sign a new one, thus a £35m deal is expected go through this month.
That will leave Antonio Conte Maurizio Sarri seeking a replacement and Sky Sports are pushing a story linking them with their former number 1, Petr Cech.
The 36 year old joined Arsenal from Chelsea in the summer of 2015, and while he’s been the number one in Premier League terms, he’s had to share cup and European football with David Ospina.
The Gunners have also splashed out on a new keeper this summer, spending a club record £22.5m on German Bernd Leno, but handed Cech the number 1 shirt earlier this summer, something he said he had wanted since he arrived.
With Unai Emery waiting to assess his goalkeepers before deciding on his first choice, it seems there’s a competitive environment at the club right now, although with Emi Martinez, David Ospina and Matt Macey also filling out the roster it seems at least one departure, if not two, is inevitable.
At 36, Cech is not one for the future, but could fill a gap if they can’t find a younger target before the close of the transfer window. Nevertheless, it would be a surprise if this deal went through, so we’re going with a runny 8 on our patented Poo-O-Meter.
Nothing against Cech but this would be fantastic / hilarious
Would be if we swapped him for Oli
Holy shit. That would be hilarious and it would make sense for both clubs even.
Make it happen
What a load of crap
(eight to be precise)
I.m agnostic on this one. Not been particularly impressed with Cech the player
You Petr Cech yoself!
This move wouldn’t surprise me, particularly if Emery likes the cut of Emi Martinez’s jib? Cech is out of contract next summer, I don’t see much value in renewing.
I’d be comfortable going into the season with Leno, Martinez and Macey as our goalkeeping options.
We’ve got too many goalkeepers and players in general, something has to give.
*Ospina, Leno, Martinez & Macy.
Even though we’re going to probably be fielding a second string, the Europa League will still be important given the Champions League place. If Cech goes we’ll still need an experienced keeper for that competition, therefore Ospina stays.
We have an oversupply of players and an undersupply of places for new players. We’re in a very weak selling position, surely Ospina will be sold? And £5mill for Cech who’s likely on big wages and out of contract next summer seems like a good deal. We could comfortably lose 8-9 players from our squad without any need to even replace them, I’d be surprised if two goalkeepers weren’t part of that list. Once we’ve trimmed the squad and wage bill? hopefully we can keep it there, we had a first team squad of 35 players this time last year,… Read more »
I agree, the squad clearly needs trimming, thing is Ospina apparently has 2 years left and there haven’t really been any strong rumours (outside of Turkey) suggesting his imminent departure. Given the lack of takers, if Cech is sold are Arsenal really going to go into the season with two talented keepers that are untested in the Premier League when they have an experienced international keeper (on not-massive arsenal level wages with minimal transfer value) still at the club? If Arsenal find a buyer he’s probably off, but if there are no takers I don’t see the club not using… Read more »
Cant a keeper play PL and Europa League?
Yes but if there’s a whole different set of defenders in front of him, might as well give a shot to someone else in the initially less demanding Europa league
They can, but given the travel involved surely having an experienced keeper for the competition would beneficial? At one point last season we played Monday night, then away in Borisov on Thurs, then a midday kick off on the Sunday. That scenario could easily happen again, but imagine traveling to Kazakhstan or Azerbaijan instead. Much rather a fresh keeper for the more important competition.
I know they’re transfer rumours so you can’t take them seriously, but if Curtois is off, Hazard supposedly wanting out too, stadium plans collapsing, Abramovich having assets stopped…it really seems like the end of the Chelsea era.
And it’s fucking wonderful
Also Willian and Kante are wanted by Barcelona. With Courtois and Hazard, that are basically their 4 best players. If they lose all of them within a few weeks, I promise to wet my pants out of pure enjoyment!
If this does go through it would be a big indicator of their future plans and ambitions. If the Abramovic money is drying up maybe they are shutting themselves and recognise that they can’t pay their own way. Perhaps they need to make a transfer profit this year.
Perhaps Sarri was recruited specifically as he has been able to be competitive with a cheaper squad at Napoli.
Abramovic’s money all went in as interest-free loans. If Abramovic ever sells the club, the loans become due. The total is about a billion and a half pounds so far. In other words, if Abramovic decides he’s had enough and leaves, Chel$ki are finished.
The loans would be assigned to whoever purchases probably, and whoever purchases a club like Chelsea can pay those loans.
But yes, still a huge red flag.
Here’s hoping
In his prime (unfortunately for Chelsea) Cech was immense but i just dont see them lining him up as a replacement for Courtois now. A proper runny poo indeed.
Not sure this merits 8/10 on the poo meter. I can actually see this one going through. Cech is well past his prime, we just bought a new GK who will be No.1 straight away. Emery will probably not want to deal with too may GKs to feed. In all probability, he will opt to let go of both Cech and Ospina, and have a more traditional set up of one settled No.1 and younger backups in Macey or Martinez.
That’s what I’d like to see but thing this Cech speculation is just the media making things up. I do think martinez deserves a pop at 2nd choice.
If Cech were to leave now, how would you rate his time at Arsenal?
Pathetic. 2 out of 10
I’d probably give him a B- or a C. I remember when he first joined I felt like he was a big upgrade on Szcz/Fabianski, but I feel his quality has dropped over the last few years and watching him let in near post shots and some other mistakes leading to goals… Yeah.
5/10 incredibly average – I do think the recent change in GK coach is going to improve things significantly and this was probably the root of our GK problems rather than the players. I recall when Cech joined there was a lot in the press about arsenal trying to bring his coach from Chelski with him which was unsuccessful. This could explain his downturn in performance for us compared with Chelski
I think he was let down by the soft style of defending has. He has the near post weakness but he’s absolutely class who came from a team with a solid wall in front of him and good goalkeeper coaching. At Arsenal he had to be at his best but couldn’t stay at that level with a back line that regularly switches off, have a ridiculously high line, doesn’t appear to be cohesive, and he had what past goalkeepers of Arsenal have considered a weak coaching system for keepers. I think he’s done the best he can and felt he… Read more »
Exactly. At least someone speaking sense. Every goalkeeper would struggle on that team. Goalkeepers are very dependent on team playing style and defending. Most of the mistakes he made were because he tried to fix a big mistakes from others. He saved us so many times and they always forget that. But he was constantly under the pressure and every goalie would lost confidence and make mistake in that team. It’s all about defending and trusting to your teammates.
^^ This. Absolutely hit the nail on the head. Well said.
This is one transfer that would not make sense for both clubs, even. But I gotts say, the Poo-O-Meter’s consistency levels are worse than Theo Walcott’s…
Wow. Chelsea have really fallen, haven’t they? Imagine how lacking in ambition you have to be to replace a talented young keeper with a 30+ ‘past-his-prime’ veteran from a rival club….
Oh.
One of us! One of us!
I thought it was a little strange that Nelson was wearing the number 19 at the weekend when Leno just announced he would be wearing it. First thing I thought was I wonder if Cech is off and we are giving Leno the 1?
Only way I see that happening is if Emery has told Cech he will be benched this season.
oh the patented poo-meter. I thought I’d never see you again on this blog judging by the way Senor Unai conducted his early transfer business! All hail the poo-meter ???
His experience is undeniable, and that would be immensely useful.
However, he is definitely on the wane in terms of the number 1 keeper role.
Not sure too many fans would be that upset if Leno had the gloves – even despite him not appearing to save a single shot in those training videos Arsenal are pumping out these days
Ospina will be getting a testimonial – mark my words.
But hes only allowed to invite career benchwarmers to play
If he wants to leave, I certainly wouldn’t grudge him a move back. He’s been a consummate professional, and it would solve our goalkeeper conundrum at the same time. A very likeable guy.
I’d only sanction this if we get to bring Giroud home in return
What a legend Giroud would be forever on. Took one for the team to get Aubameyang in… did another for Cech and came back to the fold under a new manager to become Arsenal’s second-leading all-time goalscorer in two seasons.
I would buy the Chelsea Giroud shirt if that happened. I also want world peace and Elon Musk to preside over a world government. And hover cars.
This is actually a very good news
Courtois leaving to Madrid and it is Liverpool not Chelsea agreeing a 65 m deal for Alisson, who is up there in the top 5 in the world; lovely that Chelsea is hinting at a decline of Abramovic era but this Red Sox Liverpool era is looking ominous, for us. Not to mention, Sp*rs are actually doing a job holding on to their players. I really wish we can show this season that we are up there.
How exactly do Liverpool have all this cash to burn? They already spent £75m on van Dijk, £53m for Naby Keita, £45m for Fabinho and £13m for Shaqiri, so it’s not like that Coutinho cash is burning a hole in their pocket.
Their best defender, by far, has been Alderweireld and it looks like he is leaving–was frozen out of the team after recovering from injury because he would not sign a new contract. They will not keep a bunch of others very much longer unless they begin to pay competitive wages; we will see if the new stadium allows them to do this.
The relatively poor showing of England Spurs’ players at the world cup (Trippier apart) will make it easier for them to hold on them – – unfortunately
If he goes there, I can imagine the next game against Chels, we get awarded a penalty, and he saves.
If we cut ties on Wilshere nobody is safe except our really expensive recent signings.
Having read the secret footballer I am expecting the gaffer to move on some big names as part of making himself the gaffer. Does Cech gain us points over Leno or Ospina? Probably not.
Glad to see Perez making a return. Always rated him but Wenger didn’t. You need a good squad striker. And now Giroud is gone we need a squad striker back on the books.
Would be a bit risky since Leno needs to bed in still.
Certainly Leno has the potential to challenge Tierstegen for the number one now that Neur has proven himself a good outfield player.
But that work is not done yet.
Why do ost of you fans hate or dislike David Ospina? Why? Really cant understand te thinking behind this continuous push for him to leave Arsenal. He played at the recent WC and he was really decent.
More evidence that not bringing back Szczęsny when we had the chance was a poor decision….