Petr Cech officially joined his team mates in training as the former Chelsea goalkeeper started his Arsenal career. Cech joined the training session for the Gunners at London Colney on Friday.
The 33-year-old recently completed a £10 million move from cross town rivals Chelsea. After falling down the pecking order to young Belgian stopper Thibaut Courtois, Cech wanted to move to a side that can guarantee more game time.
The move had its own teething problems with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho trying to scupper the move. He didn’t want to strengthen a direct title rival and especially Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. But, it is believed that Cech had a special consideration from Blues owner Roman Abramovich that the club will not block his exit to a Premier League rival.
All’s well that ends well and the experienced shot stopper joined Arsenal. There was enough support from both within and outside the club on the qualities he can bring. French defender Mathieu Debuchy feels that the arrival has galvanized the entire squad and they are ready to challenge for the Premier League title next season.
Former Blues great Frank Lampard believes that Arsenal have become genuine title challengers with just one signing – that of Cech. And Blues captain John Terry lamented the transfer which is worth ’12 to 15 points’ for the North London club.
During his time at the Stamford Bridge, Cech is a multiple title winner. His cabinet is full with four Premier League titles, four FA cups, three League Cups, the Champions League and Europa League. This is the sort of experience that any team craves for and the Gunners may just have got themselves a wild card to the title.
Cech will compete with Wojciech Szczesny and David Ospina for the first team though there are reports linking both the incumbent keepers with a move away from the club. It would be a disgrace to the experience and capability of Cech to say that he may not be a direct choice. Cech would surely be one of the first names that would be penciled in by Wenger from now on.
The veteran goalkeeper will travel with the Gunners to Singapore after being named by Wenger in the 27-player squad for the Barclays Asia Trophy. Ironically, the season will start for Cech with a Community Shield match against his old club Chelsea on August 2.
Do you think Cech is that last piece of the puzzle for Wenger? Is the club ready to challenge for EPL next season?
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No. We need a world class keeper like Courtois, Neuer, Lloris, De Gea. Not a 34 year old has been.
you ll be forced to eat humble pie, clearly you have no clue
Have we not had this article like 4 times the last 2 weeks?
Getting boring
With petr cech, a class DM and a top class striker, we have a good chance of challenging for the title!
Petr will no doubt galvanize the defense & is pretty much faultless in any situation ie: corners, free kicks, penalties… Yeah no issues with the back 5 this term however, as it’s been said like 5000 times, a dm to rival le coc.. & a top top striker
C.O.Y.G
5001 now
It takes a team to win the PL. I still think we need a top striker and DM BUT Cech transfer is huge for us.
Well, he will improve our defense (Gk, defenders, DM) and probably get us a some extra points than if we didn’t have him. More clean sheets. Every point is important
A player like Cech has been needed since Lehman. We had years of Almunia, Fabianski and Szczesny. Ospina was very good last season but Cech is WC, PL winner and CL winner
We are definitely a better team with Cech.
I am happy with Cech as he will bring much needed leadership at the back but honestly we still need a quality striker and one midfielder to strongly challenge for the league. Schneiderlin should be a priority given United have acquired Bastian.
Better situation at back but can’t win prem without improved cf
with a few more quality signings
Gooners, will you exchange Ozil for Pogba?
Yes – Thumbs up
No – Thumbs down
Just imagine fans before his injurie, haha.
I will say Cech capture is a statement of intent but we may still not win title with him! Ah! Sorry for my faint hope and pessimisms. The songs and piping that has greeted the signing of cech is at best,the impetus to provoke the cech’s emotion as to how is been loved and rated even in they eyes of friendly foes of yesteryears and at worst,raised hopes more than probable realities.
Getting keeper of ilk is ok but,arsenal need a rugged positive mentality to break the record;get good poacher to finish telepathic passing from Ozil et al,Giroud is good but not feared!
So,cech alone can’t win us title,acquision of the necessary entities will suffice.
Petr cech will make a difference! Mark my words!
If anyone thinks Cech alone will win us the league, they’re deluded.
Yes, he’s an upgrade but his kicking has always been below par, and since his head injury he sometimes hesitates at going down to players feet, so an upgrade yes, but not enough to win anything.
Looks like being another frustrating season for us, with ffp being relaxed, expect to see Chelsea and Man City spending their oil money again, Utd spending big again, even Liverpool are trying to reinforce their squad (Milner was a great signing for free for them). I just hope Wenger has something up his sleeve or we’re going to be 3rd or 4th again at best, not good enough when you consider the price of tickets for The Emirates.
Quality wise we are the 3rd best team in the Epl. Things havent changed yet by getting Cech. So what can we expect for the next year? 3rd place and Fa cup.
He is the greatest in his poz. Thats what counts. Now how do we get Aguero at Arsenal?
Go to a deep sleep and he will come in your dreams.
Petr Cech is the first piece needed. The squad still needs at least two top class (Alexis quality) players to compete for the title. I was discouraged to read that Wenger will not consider any new signings until all his players are healthy. Just when I think Wenger is finally coming back to reality, he slips back into his delusion that the current squad is strong enough to win the title.
Arsenal won’t win the title if he is counting on the likes of Arteta, Rosicky, and Flamini for example. These squad players can be upgraded and should be upgraded.
Give us some names – upgrades that will come and be 2nd and 3rd choice CDMs and 4th choice CAM. If they are lucky they may sit on the match day bench a dozen times and play in the Carling Cup. Who are these players?
Wenger plss get an upgrade on that guy (giroud) who leads the line for who (cech) backs the line’s sake…