Arsenal have officially signed Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Čech for a fee of around £10 million on a four-year contract on 29 June 2015.
The 33 year old goalkeeper is a Chelsea legend where he played from 2004 to 2015 and won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three Football League Cups, one UEFA Europa League and one UEFA Champions League.
Considered as a one of the best in modern era, Petr Čech has won Premier League for three times in the 2004–05, 2009–10 and 2013–14 seasons.
He also holds the record of most number of clean sheets in English Premier League.
Signing a great goalkeeper is amazing for Arsenal which should help them mount a title challenge for the next season.
But Arsenal already had two very good goalkeepers last season and rotated them to give each other a good competition.
Wojciech Szczęsny started the season as Arsene Weneger’s number one choice but lost his place to Colombian International David Ospina in the later half of the season.
Now the arrival of Petr makes it harder for them to cement a place in the starting line up and its unlikely that they would get a chance to feature in games except League Cup matches where we mostly see the second string squads from big clubs.
There is no doubt that both of them – 25 year old Polish and 26 year old Colombian – have a bright future, just not at the Emirates at the moment.
Let’s compare the three goalkeepers on basis of their statistics from last season:
All statistics are of average per 90 minutes.
| Statistics | Petr Čech | David Ospina | Wojciech Szczęsny |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clean Sheets | 0.74 | 0.44 | 0.18 |
| Goals conceded | 0.3 | 0.61 | 1.26 |
| Saves | 2.08 | 1.94 | 1.68 |
| Distribution Accuracy | 63% | 60% | 68% |
| Average Distribution Length | 29 meters | 31 meters | 35 meters |
| Punches | 0.3 | 0.56 | 0.12 |
| Catches | 1.63 | 1.83 | 2.04 |
Statistics courtesy- Squawka
-> According to statistics, Petr Čech has far better clean sheets ratio per game than the two.
-> Cech also concedes much less goals.
-> The Czech Republic International has made more saves than the two goalkeepers last season.
-> Distribution accuracy and average distribution length is better for Wojciech Szczęsny which makes him a better distributor of the ball.
-> Meanwhile, Ospina establishes himself as the better puncher (and hence better at clearances) of the ball.
-> The Polish goalkeeper is a better catcher of the ball according to statistics.
We have seen goalkeepers like Edwin van der Sar and Buffon playing at their best till the last day of their career. Edwin was bought by Sir Alex Ferguson when he was 34 and became a part of Manchester United’s golden era.
Petr Čech is likely to have a great future at Arsenal as he still has a lot of football left in him and Arsenal will be benefit from him hugely for the next few seasons.