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One half of London cheers while the other half weeps as Petr Cech draws closer and closer to a move across the English capital and become Arsenal’s new keeper. In a reported £10 million deal, Wenger is willing to put Szczesny and Ospina to the side in order for Cech to become his number one.
After Thibaut Courtois finished his loan in Madrid and came to Stamford Bridge as a full-time member of the first team, Petr Cech became overshadowed by the Belgian’s youth and rising talent. However, Jose Mourinho is still fond of Cech and his expertise, even with ten years separating the two keepers. Cech’s future does not lie in the hands of Jose Mourinho, however, and therefore has more freedom to decided his own fate.
Petr Cech and Jose Mourinho in 2005 during the managers first spell with the club. Photo: @BeardedMagician | Twitter
Not only will Cech leave Chelsea, should he sign the new contract, but his position coach Christophe Lollichon could follow him to Arsenal as well. A double loss for Chelsea will be a big blow forcing the club to search for a replacement back-up keeper.
Petr Cech and long-time goal coach Christophe Lollichon training for Chelsea. Photo: @CFCColumn | Twitter
Mourinho will need to look for experience and consistency when replacing Cech. Jamal Blackman is Chelsea's third keeper at only twenty-one years old, and will likely go out on loan again at the start of the season, thus ruling him out of the equation. Since the Chelsea boss isn’t very keen on letting his former number one keeper go, he could try to make a player offer as well to have Szczesny and Ospina come to Stamford Bridge.
Arsene Wenger is willing to pay £100,000 in weekly wages for the Czech keeper, which would make him one of the highest paid players in the squad along with Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott. This sounds like an enormous sum of money to pay a player who is nearly 35, but Wenger believes he can play at his current level for another five years.
