Petr Cech looks set to join Arsenal, and the Blues may have made a huge mistake in letting their second choice ‘keeper move to a direct rival. Cech, the hero of Chelsea’s Champions League penalty shootout win in 2012, is said to have agreed personal terms with the Gunners and will become an Arsenal player.
With the advent of 24 hour sports news channels and social media, transfer rumours are perennially rife and a staple of the football fans’ summer diet. In this instance it appears that the media outlets have this one right; with prices quoted ranging from £11m-£14m. When accounting for Cech’s successor, Thibaut Courtois, being signed for just £8m, on the face of it it seems a good deal in pure monetary terms, but when one considers some of the other more subtle impacts this transfer could have, it does take on a different dimension.
Chelsea Score Own Goal as Petr Cech joins Arsenal
Given football clubs, let alone hardnosed Billionaire owners, are not often known for their compassion when doing business, it is pleasing to see loyalty and service rewarded with Cech being allowed to choose his club of destination. His professionalism last season after being usurped by the younger Courtois was said to have been exemplary. As an intelligent man, Cech will have known that he would be unlikely to reverse Jose Mourinho’s decision, in a situation with great similarity to the one Carlo Cudicini faced when Cech arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2004.
Cech’s young family are based and settled in London with the goalkeeper having spent over a decade at the West London club. A move across the capital to Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal would not have been on Mourinho’s wishlist, with some reports speculating that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had personally sanctioned the move, going against advice from Mourinho and other Chelsea Directors.
This show of compassion from Chelsea towards Cech is a great thing to see, but could this come back to haunt them in the hunt for trophies?
In recent history Chelsea have developed a pragmatic taste for selling prominent assets to rival clubs. In January 2014, Juan Mata was sold to Manchester United just six months after being named the club’s player of the season for a second successive year, and in the summer of 2014 David Luiz was transferred to PSG. Luiz then returned to Stamford Bridge with PSG and scored one of two away goals that knocked Chelsea out of the UEFA Champions League the following season.
Chelsea Captain John Terry told English radio station Talksport: “He will save them 12 or 15 points a season. Petr was an unbelievable professional last year. When you get left out of the team it can be hard to accept but, when he came in he was exceptional. He deserves a lot of credit for that. We understand he wants to play first-team football but nobody wants to see him leave the club. He’s going to be sorely missed and will improve any side he goes to.”
Whilst the chatter around footballers and transfers can tend to be a bit hyperbolic, I don’t think Terry was exaggerating Cech’s worth to Chelsea’s sustained success over the past 11 years. When he played last season he performed superbly, his stand out performance coming at home against Everton. Willian got headlines with a last minute goal but it was Cech’s performance between the sticks that won the match, a save in particular from Romelu Lukaku could be argued actually to have won Chelsea the league.
Arsenal will be getting a player with trophy-winning know-how, a great influence in the dressing room and a consummate professional. These are qualities that Chelsea may be starting to lack with only the last throngs of the old guard remaining from Jose Mourinho’s first title winning team; John Terry and John Obi Mikel being the last of the first Mourinho era left behind. The loss of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech in the past 12 months will leave a big hole in the “been there, done that” camp at Chelsea’s training base in the beautiful commuter belt village of Cobham in Surrey.
There are a number of strong characters left in the squad who will now need to step up. Branislav Ivanovic is one of the strong Mourinho allies, but with rumours of unrest emanating from the entourage of John Obi Mikel due to lack of game time, releasing the ageing Drogba and letting Cech leave for Arsenal does leave a genuine experience gap at Chelsea.
Arsenal, on the other hand, will take great heart from the signing of Cech as it fills one of the four main signings that are needed to make them serious challengers. Even with Gabriel arriving from Spanish side Villarreal in January they are in need of top class defensive cover. The midfield still lacks the significant bite that all title winning teams need, talented thought they are; Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin and Manchester City target Jack Wilshere are not in the mould of Nemanja Matic, or Gunners legend Patrick Vieira. They also still need a top drawer striker to provide a starting place challenge to Olivier Giroud.
Cech’s arrival from rivals Chelsea is a coup, and one that is likely to inspire further prospective signings. Wenger may yet be proven to be right not to walk away after their 2014 FA cup victory when speculation about his future was fierce and divided Arsenal fans bickered over the right direction to go.
For Chelsea, it is a show of faith in Courtois and the younger members of the squad to continue to improve and grow with the weight of being the defending Champions. It represents a risk to lose a top quality, experienced goalkeeper who is top of the save stats for any goalkeeper to have played over 50 matches in the Premier League since 2004-05. Being a senior, calming voice in the dressing room, especially to the new players – Cech can speak six languages – made him a valuable asset to the Chelsea off the field and around the club as well as on the field of play.
For Arsenal, it’s the first big step in their long awaited title tilt. As Terry stated, a top keeper can be worth 10-15 points a season, and this is definitely what Arsenal have been missing. This will prove a big boost to the playing staff and the Arsenal fans who will no doubt delight in relieving their rivals of one of their top stars.
