How Well Could Petr Cech Do At Arsenal?

Petr Cech, 33, is departing for pastures new, in what could be the biggest deal of
the summer.

In a move that should really be the shock of the summer but isn’t for a variety of reasons, Chelsea’s second goalkeeper Petr Cech, now the positively middling age of 33 is on the verge of sealing a transfer to ‘neighbourhood friends’ Arsenal, who are in turn sending their own first goalkeeper David Ospina to find Champions League football at Turkish side Fenerbache. In what is essentially a goalkeeper swap the first keeper for the fourth ranked nation in the world makes way for a Chelsea stalwart. John Terry says he can win Arsenal 10 to 15 points next season; Craig Hope of Daily Mail-dom says he could be the ‘Van Persie to Man United’ of summer signings. Certainly it looks to be a fantastic signing if it goes through. But then, this is Arsenal we are talking about. 

Experience and Decline

Petr Cech recently turned 33; in fact he didn’t turn so until after the season was over. For £11million, a fair inflation since the £7million  mooted price at Christmas, Arsenal are taking a calculated gamble on firstly, that Cech will be at top form for the next three or four years and secondly, that he isn’t waylaid for a long time in that period. It’s probably not a safe bet to say that Cech won’t get injured under Arsenals regime considering their previous record with certain players, but considering his position we can safely assume bits of Of Petr Cech’s legs and arms aren’t going to spontaneously combust. Hopefully. 

So that just leaves his age. We know that goalkeepers can go on for quite a bit longer then outfield players at the top level and we can look to Jens Lehmann, David James, Van der Sar, Brad Friedel and many more iconic players. Many of theses even played for top clubs until the late forties; Iker Cassilas, a Real Madrid legend and one club man till now is increasingly surplus to requirements at Madrid at the age of 34, being an exceptional case in the tale of elite goalkeepers. 

Maybe Arsenal, and their airy fairy defence could once have proved a different prospect for Petr Cech then marshalling the likes of Terry, Cahill, Carvalho, Ashley Cole and Ivanovic. But it is difficult to argue that Arsenal’s defence is the same beast as it was several years ago, in the days of 8-2 losses to Man United and playing raw talented players in that key defensive midfield position. Arsenals defence is tougher these days with Mertesacker and Koschielny at the centre of it; with the impressive Francis Coquelin sitting in front. It is no lightweight force that Cech has to command at the back; nowadays Arsenal's defence is a tough unit, and one that he should relish playing behind. 

Cech saves a penalty from Bastian Schweinsteiger to help Chelsea win
their first Champions League Trophy.

How Good Is He Now?

It’s hard to put a gauge on how good Cech was last season considering his limited involvement in it, having been replaced by the young and very bright goalkeeping talent Thibaut Courtois after Athletico Madrid’s fabulous 13/14 campaign. Cech kept a clean sheet in five of the seven games he played in the premier league, but of course this is far from helpful in terms of an entire season. 

Average stats from the 14/15 paint a slightly clearer (but not by much) picture; his average goals conceded (0.29) is a third of that of replacement Courtois (0.9). He made more saves per goal and he made more saves overall per game over the course of the season. Of anyone with seven games or more in the premier league, Petr Cech has the best goals conceded per 90 of anyone by a fair way; in second place by the way with 0.61 goals conceded per 90, was the ever unfortunate David Ospina. Maybe he was rejuvenated with a season of sub bench duty, and maybe that will change once he is at Arsenal with a strenuous fifty game schedule, if Arsenal are going to compete on multiple fronts anyway.

All the limited signs we have though, say that Cech is as good as ever. The cynical might say that Chelsea would be better off keeping him chained to the substitutes bench then sending him to an FA cup winning Arsenal side increasingly packed with talent from front to back, and it can’t even be said that 11million is a particularly large sum for a keeper of his calibre anymore after the recent summers of transfer fee inflation. Would Man United pay 30million for Van Persie if they were buying the same player this summer three years on? More comparable maybe, is the £16.7million United paid for David De Gea; and the £25million rumoured offer from Madrid for him now. 

Title Winning Potential

It could be argued then that Madrid are paying for longevity while Arsenal are paying for sheer, title winning potential. David De Gea could last Madrid another fifteen years, Cech maybe four or five years; but if in the process Cech could play as big a part as Terry thinks he might in winning Arsenal the title again then the money would surely be worth it. A few years of steady progress including a Community Shield and two FA cups could perhaps be leading finally to the summit; to the Premier League title Arsenal have been unable to grasp for more then a decade. And Petr Cech, arguably already the signing of the summer, could be the man to help take them there. Maybe. Because lets face it, it’s Arsenal we’re talking about here. Double arm combustion in ten, nine, eight…

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