Well, I never thought I’d ever say this, but Petr Cech is an Arsenal player. I guess I shouldn’t be too upset about it though; I could also say the same about Frank Lampard and his venture to the blue side of Manchester.
It’s been a little while since the deal was confirmed, and I’ve cooled off a bit since then. That day, it seemed like Cech moving to north London was the worst thing to ever happen. It was certainly a day where many Chelsea fans opted to stay off of Twitter. If you’re still bummed out about the move, have a look at the picture below. If you’ve cooled off a bit like me, still – have a look at the picture below.
Anyway, let’s move on to more important things. A Chelsea legend through and through, Petr Cech had virtually no choice but to go to Arsenal. He wanted Champions League football and his family wanted to stay in London. Arsenal were the only option. Because of this, Mourinho’s wishes had no chances of being granted. Arsenal knew that we had to sell Cech to them, therefore they gave us a measly £11 million and no Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in return. Cech is only thirty-three and he’s got years of top class football left in him. He’s now playing for our hated cross-town rivals, against us. This is Petr Cech we’re talking about! How could this be? But, I’m here to talk about the good, not the bad side of Cech’s controversial transfer.
How could history possibly repeat itself so coincidentally? It’s pretty crazy to think about. While both of their paths to Chelsea stardom were slightly different, Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois’ introductions into the squad were scarily similar.
Cech joined as a twenty-two year old goalkeeping prodigy, but most Blues’ fans weren’t too bothered by the transfer initially. Carlo Cudicini was comfortably the club’s number one choice in between the sticks. After joining permanently in 2000, the Italian had already spent four years in London before the arrival of Cech. Manager Claudio Ranieri’s intentions for Cech were for him to be Cudicini’s understudy. However, Cech joined up with Chelsea in the summer along with Jose Mourinho, who promoted Petr to a starting role and never looked back. Cudicini stayed at the club for five more years, but ended up being Cech’s understudy!
The year is 2011. Petr Cech is Chelsea Football Club’s number one without question. After achieving plenty already with the Blues, Cech’s best moments at the club are yet to come. There are years and years of play to go in his Chelsea career. In July of that year, part of the club’s transfer business was purchasing nineteen-year-old Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for an undisclosed fee. Soon after, the youngster was loaned to Atletico Madrid where he would quickly overtake Sergio Asenjo and become first-choice keeper. Courtois won the Europa League with Atletico in 2012. His loan was extended another season, and his first match in that second season was against his parent club, Chelsea. Atletico Madrid snatched the UEFA Super Cup from the Blues by an astonishing scoreline of 4-1. Later on, Thibaut helped Atletico win the Copa del Rey where they beat their rivals Real Madrid for the first time in fourteen years. For a third year in a row, Thibaut Courtois was to spend the season in Spain. At this point recognized by the world as one of the finest young goalkeepers in football, many were starting to wonder when the Belgian was to be actually utilized by his parent club Chelsea. But, he went on to be nominated for best goalkeeper in La Liga as he played an integral role in Atletico Madrid’s first league title since 1996. He even played in the 2014 Champions League final, but left Lisbon empty-handed. While all of this was going on, Petr Cech was achieving excellence as Chelsea’s goalkeeper by winning the Champions League, FA Cup, and Europa League.
In the summer of 2014, Thibaut Courtois returned to London and would finally stay at Chelsea. Jose Mourinho tied the Belgian down to a five year deal. There was much speculation that Cech was on his way out, but on Transfer Deadline Day the Chelsea stopper confirmed that he was staying with The Blues via Twitter. With two of the world’s best goalkeepers at his disposal, who would Mourinho choose as his number one?
There was only one logical option, and it was Courtois who started for Chelsea while Cech sat on the bench for most of the season – something he wasn’t used to doing, that’s for sure! The shift of personnel didn’t exactly affect The Blues though, as Premier League and League Cup glory was achieved in 2015.
All of that led up to this summer transfer window, where a change in the Chelsea goalkeeping core was a matter of when and not if. After agonizing weeks of rumours, it was eventually confirmed that Petr Cech had gone to Arsenal in search of first team football due in part to the restriction of being unable to change his location.
But, this was the move that had to happen. As I explained, Cech had no choice but to join Arsenal. Because of Abramovic’s outstanding relationship with Petr, Mourinho’s desires were ignored and Cech wasn’t forced to stay at Chelsea against his will or forced to ship himself and his family abroad. Arsenal it was. Yet, and I myself am guilty of this, many of us seemed to forget about something throughout our fits of rage: we have Thibaut Courtois. Thing is, Thibaut had to be brought back from loan. You could just tell that the Belgian was beginning to fall in love with his adoptive club Atletico Madrid, and it’s fans were beginning to fall in love with him. If Chelsea didn’t begin using him soon, another top club would surely have swept in to steal the youngster away. But, bringing him back to Chelsea meant guaranteeing him playing time. If he was going to be brought back from loan and not played, I can promise you that he himself would have pushed for a permanent switch elsewhere. Thus, Courtois enjoyed his first season as Chelsea’s number one and Cech was pushed out of the club as a result.
While Petr Cech is a club legend, a decision had to be made. The situation could have gone either one of two ways. Chelsea could have treated Courtois badly and kept Cech as their number one. We would have the Czech international in our goal for another five plus years, and he’d happily retire as a Chelsea legend. The Blues would have to eventually find a capable replacement though, as Courtois would have surely been driven out of the club due to his poor treatment. That was the problem – Courtois is so young, yet already capable of being our starting goalkeeper. He needs to play.
The other way, the way it’s actually gone, is the right way. Let’s face it: the long-term option wins here in this situation any day of the week. Ultimately, it comes down to having Cech for five years or having Courtois for fifteen plus years. Easy decision, right? Not so easy when you’re dealing with a club legend.
I believe it’s important to be optimistic here. Cech leaving doesn’t affect us in any way when we have Courtois. Mourinho just needs to go out and find a capable backup before the season kicks off in August. Cech joining Arsenal isn’t going to change much either. Arsenal do have one of the world’s best goalkeepers now, but it doesn’t instantly make them title favourites. One player can’t do such a thing, especially if that player is a goalkeeper.
Look at it this way: Petr Cech is a Chelsea legend. Abramovic respected him enough to give him exactly what he wanted, and that was a move to Arsenal. While it may frustrate some, it is understandable that Cech’s young family wanting to stay in London is more important to him than the mortal sin of switching to his arch-rival.
Now, there is nothing standing in Thibaut Courtois’ way of becoming a Chelsea legend himself. The young man is twenty-three years old and is now cemented in Cech’s place as Chelsea’s number one. With Jose Mourinho at the helm for the foreseeable future, and with the monster he is currently building that is Chelsea Football Club, who knows: maybe Thibaut Courtois can be even better than Petr Cech was during his time in SW6. Ten years from now, we can be the judge of that. For now, let’s wish our former hero Petr Cech good luck, but not too good of luck, at Arsenal, and let’s get behind our new shot-stopper.
