Kevin Whitcher
You could be forgiven for thinking Arsene Wenger sees a goalkeeper as low priority given his acquisitions over the years at Arsenal. There is a popular view that a top class keeper can win a side points, and looking at title winning teams in England, there seems an element of truth to this. It would certainly seem to put any team at an advantage to have someone of true quality between the sticks.
Of course, the keeper was not a position that proved any sort of problem in Wenger’s earlier years at the club. He inherited David Seaman, and the only decision he really had to make was to drop Alex Manninger after the youngster had contributed so effectively to the 1997-98 campaign. In fairness, he did spend big on Ipswich’s Richard Wright when he sensed Seaman’s powers might be waning. Wright was only at the club for one season, and although Seaman saw him off, he only lasted another 12 months himself.
In 2003, Wenger bought Jens Lehmann. Ironically, it seems he would have acquired Petr Cech then but for work permit problems. Who knows how history would have panned out were the Czech shotstopper playing for Arsenal instead of Chelsea from 2004, when Roman Abramovich blew the Gunners’ chances of securing Cech out of the water.
Lehmann was a relative bargain buy, his star in decline slightly in Germany at that time. He’d had a high profile failure at Inter Milan before moving back to his homeland and did not seem anywhere near replacing Oliver Kahn in the national team. Notoriously temperamental, it was a gamble that worked out initially, as the trophies continued. He was dropped in the 2004-05 campaign for Manuel Almunia, one suspects partly because of a fractious relationship with Arsene Wenger, although Almunia’s somewhat suicidal keeping against Manchester United at Highbury in a 4-2 defeat ensured the German was returned to the starting spot. An FA Cup win and, a season later, a run to the Champions League final in which Lehmann was outstanding followed.
Yet, in spite of Almunia’s evident lack of genuine quality, Lehmann lost his place again in the autumn of 2007 to the Spaniard. It could be argued that Lehmann was well past his prime by this time, but to consider Almunia the better option was a decision from which the team have never fully recovered, until some eight years on and the signing of Cech.
Fans had to endure a procession of keepers, some better than others, but all capable of mistakes and costing points. Almunia gave way to Szczesny, who provided genuine optimism for a short spell, but ultimately failed to develop in the way that David De Gea did at Manchester United. Whether this was down to the coaching at the club is one for debate, although there is a view that the club’s senior keeping coach, Gerry Peyton, could be improved upon. That Cech has brought his own coach with him, with Tony Roberts’ attendant departure to Swansea, may be significant.
Once Almunia was history, with a months long elbow injury or similar to avoid the manager stating he’d been dropped once and for all, Szczesny battled it out with his fellow Pole Lukasz Fabianski for the starting spot. The latter was unfortunate with the timing of injuries, but the bottom line is that he was nicknamed “Flapianski” by the fans for good reason. Szczesny played most of the games until ousted by David Ospina, the Colombian international keeper halfway through last season, with an improvement in the goals against record. Whether Ospina was fortunate to come into the reckoning at just the same time as the team became settled with an effective Coquelin – Cazorla axis at the base of the midfield could certainly be argued, but it appears as if Arsene Wenger has finally acknowledged that the surer the bet in the keeper’s jersey, the more likely his team will win matches.
There is no doubt that Cech is top drawer. His demotion at Chelsea because of the return of Courtois is understandable. The club are thinking long term and had the opportunity to secure the Belgian. Yet that does not make Cech a bad keeper by any means. Chelsea failed to win the title in the season before Courtois’ arrival not due to defensive issues, but a poor return from their expensive striking options (Torres, Eto’o and Demba Ba). Chances are that with Cech in goal instead of Courtois, they would still have won it in 2015, such was the points gap when they secured the title with matches to spare.
Sure, at 33, his very best days are probably behind him, although I’d say it was a little harsh to claim that since his head injury during Mourinho’s first tenure at the Bridge he has not been the same keeper. John Terry, knowing Cech was on his way, stated the keeper was worth around 12 points a season. Bigging up a departing player in this way was presumably not the Chelsea skipper trying to put a couple of million on the price tag but a genuine acknowledgement of his abilities.
The signing has been compared with that of Pat Jennings, who served the club well after Spurs had decided he was past his best, but also with Sol Campbell, in that a player from a major rival has weakened them while strengthening Arsenal. Given Cech was second choice, I don’t buy that so much, although can see that his influence on the team is likely to be positive as was Campbell’s. Obviously this was far less of seismic shock, given the papers had been running the story of the transfer for weeks.
More important is that it is a sign that the manager is prepared to strengthen a position in which better options can be acquired without worrying about egos or killing careers. With a little more effort and a couple more million, Xabi Alonso could have arrived in 2009, at a time when there was simply too much inexperience of winning trophies in the team. Luis Suarez could have been bought in the summer of 2013 with a more determined bid. Experienced players already proven top quality in the Premier League cost money, but increase the chances of titles significantly. It’s taken a long time for the club to come to terms with the reality that they come at a premium, but it is to be hoped, with their new found financial muscle, that Cech is by no means the last big signing.
Arsenal had around £70 million to play with to cover transfer fees and a year’s wages of new players. With Cech on £100k a week, that leaves around £55 million in the pot – and that is without income from outgoing players (such as Ospina and Podolski). This summer’s big signing is still to be made. The chance to improve the squad and push on is still there, and the club can afford two more major buys. Better to have quality on the field that surplus cash in the bank. There is no doubt that Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City will be splashing the cash to enhance their own rosters. Arsenal need to buy just to stand still, and there is little chance of improvement unless they spend well.
Cech is a good start, let’s hope the club keep it going and get a settled squad before things get serious again in August, by making the right moves and using the funds available.
We will be running the results of the Annual Gooner Survey in five parts on the website very shortly.
I am now on Twitter@KevinWhitcher01.
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