Just as expected when Petr Cech signed for Arsenal from London rivals Chelsea, he has proven to be a fantastic addition to the club and saved us on numerous occasions last season.
Some will argue that Cech also had a few howlers over the course of the campaign, but to expect near perfection would not be realistic. Overall I think Gooners can be satisfied that we have a top class keeper on our hands, especially after many many years of uncertainty between the sticks. But just how long will Cech stay as the club’s number one?
Cech is currently 34 years old and of course has a fair few more years at the highest level as a goalkeeper. Goalkeepers tend to not retire until their late 30’s and just looking at the likes of Buffon, Casillas and even previously Van Der Sar, top keepers can remain at the highest well into the latter stages of their professional career. Providing he maintains full fitness and there’s no major fall in ability, then I’d expect him to remain between the sticks for at least the next 3 years. But there are of course factors that could influence the length of his career at Arsenal.
Cech is fully committed to staying in London, one of the main reasons for why he signed for Arsenal from Chelsea rather than anyone else, so I’m confident that he won’t be looking to move away anytime soon. One thing that could increase the number of years his career lasts for, is the recent consideration that he has had surrounding whether he will be retiring from the national team, after this summer’s European Championships.
Cech’s national side, Czech Republic are of course already out of the Euros, having been eliminated from the group stage. However Cech announced that he will make a decision on his future with the national side and whether he will choose to continue playing or go into international retirement. Retiring from his national team would of course allow Cech to focus solely on his club duties, rather than having to jet off for international games every few months. It will also allow him to have a break from football each summer, rather than have a long calendar year which includes international football over the summer months.
The other factor we must consider is the future of other goalkeepers at the club. I think Wenger will bring back Szczesny to learn under Cech for the next year or so, before handing the reins over to the Polish international once again. Therefore Cech may only have one or two more seasons as Arsenal’s regular goalkeeper and number one choice. I don’t expect to see the likes of Martinez, Macey or Huddart to ever make the step up to being the club’s number one.
So how much longer will we be able to have this footballing legend guarding our goal between the sticks and do you think international retirement would be a positive move for Cech?
By AH
I don’t know why am tilting towards the Columbian than the Pole to take over from Cech. Is it because of his COPA performance? But the Pole had been Arsenal in blood but he has not improved beyond what we knew him to be.
Ospina is way above Szczesny, it’s a case of who would prefer an Arsenal fan and a bit of a joker between our sticks, instead of a professional who is fully focused on doing his job?
What makes me laugh is that some clubs have baulked at Ospina’s £3 million price tag ?? and thats what Arsenal paid for him. ? Surely, his worth has to be in the double figures bracke?
How long is a piece of string? ?
Obviously, Petr Cech will remain our first choice keeper for as long as he keeps performing well.
Yes, he has his faults with dealing with shots from distance but he makes up for that by being top class at dealing with Crosses. ( Maybe some Goggles to match his Cap, might enhance his performance) ?
I think its a bit unfair to knock our reserve Goalkeeping youngsters, some of them have real potential and it should be the likes of them who get the chance to learn from Cech, whereas Szczesny is a lost cause IMO.
I do not think Szcz is a lot cause, he is still young as GK go and his main fault is his mentality, everything else is spot on.
He doesn’t give the def the same confidence as Cech does, he needs to learn to do this.
Szcz needs to learn consistency, Cech GK coach could teach him more in 12 months in dealing with that then he has with the previous GK coaches… and who thinks we have had good coaches for GK?
One of the reasons why I was so happy when we got Cech was because we got his GK coach, Wenger is clueless when it comes to developing a GK, he can pick them but he can’t develop them.
Cech should not really
even be at Arsenal.
Wenger got him mainly
to pi#s Jose off.
Szcz got blamed for Arsenals horror defense
in the first half of the 2014/2015 season.
Wenger promised to replace Vermaelen but did not because
he bought Wellbeck for 16 mill when Giroud got injured
(don’t believe the cr#p about the board buying Wellbeck either)
10 mill on Cech, 12 mill on Debuchy and 16 mill on Chambers
both failures and 35 mill on Sanchez
meant Wenger risked having only 2 specialist CB’s.
It was a disaster because we ended up with Monreal and Debuchy at CB
Flamini and Arteta were feeble as well so the defence leaked goals badly.
By the time Ospina was promoted Kos and Mertz were back
Bellerin had emerged Moneal had cemented left back
Coquelin had been brought back and both Ozil and Giroud came back
from injury and Arsenal had a great second half of the season.
Yet Szcz was blamed not Wengers mismanagement.
I hope Szcz never comes back as Arsenal do not deserve him.
I would buy Butland and loan him back to Stoke for one season
and bring him in next summer either as No 1 or Cech’s deputy.
Looking at the way that Ospina performed in the Copa America I would have no problem with him being our first choice right now!
Cech didn’t help his team much at the Euros.
Cech should be replaced anytime soon……. It doesn’t have to be that long
dam we are killing other budding talents and are slowing their progress
i feel for Ospina( whom despite his height disadvantage and wee lil nature has been impressive in all competition he’s been in)….
No he hasn’t!
I remember watching the CL games and Osipina stepping back and me going WTF Ospina!!!!! Why step back into your own goal and fcuk up from it?
But hey, he has been impressive in ALL competitions right? We won the CL because of Ospinas magnificent displays….
Ospina has been awesome in the last world cup and the last two copa americas.
In 2014/15 season ospina played 18 games in the PL. Statistic for goals conceeded per 90 minuts played was 0.61. In other words that is the equivalent of 23 goals in a complete PL season. Basically, for every two goals that ospina conceeded the likes of Hart, courtois, de gea conceeded three or more goals. All his other stats were better as well like more saves per goal coceeded. OK it is a reflection of our whole defense at the time but ospina must take a lot of the credit.
Ospina is too good to sit on the bench. I just cannot see him staying years waiting to take over fron Cech.
i watched him in the world cup before I knew of our interest and was very impressed. Commentators were discussing whether he was the best goalkeeper in WC. I was really pleased when I heard he was coming to arsenal. He took his chance when it came in 2014/15 and excelled. Most of us fans hardly noticed, if he had pulled off a double save like he did against messi and aguero in an arsenal shirt, then we would have noticed. One of the commentators after a game actually said about an Ospina save “if that had been de gea making that save we would be raving about it”
You will gather that I rate ospina very highly. OK he has had some off games, olympiacos comes to mind but then again Cech was not impressive against west ham, all keepers have bad days.
Ospina is a very good shot stopper, but does not handle crosses well, glued to his line he waits until the attacker gets to the ball, then he reacts. Cech although fairly good on crosses and shot stopping, his reaction time is slowing down, therefore some shots that we think are savable have not been saved. Wos has shown some improvement at Roma, but still make some major errors. I still think Wos is still the future of arsenal, but stil would rather check in the goal, but lets wait and see because i think there will be a lot of surprises in the transfer window
Id say five more seasons at least, and seven more seasons at most.