Arsenal’s only first team signing so far has been Petr Cech from London rivals Chelsea. Deals within the two clubs are far and few between, the last one before that was the Ashley Cole and William Gallas swap deal almost a decade ago, so it is something to behold when such a deal does occur.
In an interview with Arsenal Player, Arsene Wenger has revealed how this could have happened.
“Before he went to Chelsea we were interested as the guy who brought him to Chelsea is a good friend of mine.
“One of the guys who was the agent and he told me there was an exceptional keeper at Rennes.
“He was very young when he went to Rennes. One of my assistants, Boro Primorac, his son was a player in Rennes and he said they had a very good goalkeeper. So we knew [but] I think Chelsea were a bit quicker than us.”
Petr Cech is undoubtedly a Chelsea great – one of the best players to have graced the Premier League, and Arsenal fans are hopeful that he can become a legend of the north London club as well, with the manager sharing this view.
“He has a good combination between quality, agility, size – he looked like he was built for English football.
“I think he is a very bright goalkeeper as well. He has an intimidating presence, that is for sure. He makes the goals look small. That’s the kind of charisma he has.
“His move is a bit like Edwin van der Sar’s, who went from Fulham to Manchester United but still had five or six years there, so I don’t see why [Cech] shouldn’t have a few years. He’s very serious, he trains well, has no big problems.”
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