With the start of the Premier League season edging ever closer and with Arsenal fans getting ready for the Gunners to get off to a better start than last time and send out a message to our Premier League rivals like Chelsea and Man City, Arsene Wenger has been talking in a report on the Arsenal website about the transfer that many football experts think will make us challengers.
The signing of Petr Cech from Chelsea is still the only move made by Arsenal so far this summer but we are all hoping that the Cezech Republic number one helps to give our back four the extra confidence to give the creative side of the squad the solid platform to build on.
And while Wenger is clearly delighted that the Chelsea owner stuck to his promise and let Cech decide on his next club, our long serving manager accepted that his coming to north London also created a problem, with both Wojciech Szczesny and David Ospina having to be accommodated somehow.
The Frenchman said, “The deal happened because of the special relationship that Petr Cech had with Roman Abramovich,” the manager said. “He had a promise from him that he could go out, no matter where, at a certain price, and that’s why it happened.
“It wasn’t a huge surprise for me because they couldn’t keep him forever, at 33 years of age, as a No 2.
“Goalkeepers have a special problem in the game. If you have to talk about being No 2, you are in trouble. The goalkeeper will say, ‘Yes I want to come but I want to play as well’. It’s such a problem, and it was for Barcelona last year.
“They played with one goalkeeper in the Champions League and one goalkeeper in the league. That shows you how much you need two goalkeepers, and how much you need to give them games as well.
“He can help us with the continuity of his performances and can help us to develop our keepers, who are top talents. He can strengthen the belief in the team as well because when you sit in the dressing room and look around you, you need some people who can give you confidence.”
From Wenger´s words I assume that Arsenal are going to use Cech for the Premier League and one of the others for the cups and with the Daily Mail reporting that Szczesny has agreed to spend a season on loan with the Serie A club Roma, it looks like Ospina has won the battle of the back-ups.
This would indicate that the Pole is still in the long term plans of Le Prof but how is he going to learn from Cech when he is in Italy?