Petr Cech

[Jase 43,479]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntDmyZHCUjs

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Right now, Cech > Courtois. Anyone who says otherwise is either an idiot or blinded by the (unproven) potential of Courtois.

[Ollie 4,400]

Cech is still by far the best keeper in the prem. I hope he still has 5 years with us or more and we cash in on Courtois. Might as well, he already has a winners medal which he won against us the bastard lol. He needs to play consistently now but we can't just let Atletico have him for 3 or 4 years for basically free.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Cech is still by far the best keeper in the prem. I hope he still has 5 years with us or more and we cash in on Courtois. Might as well, he already has a winners medal which he won against us the bastard lol. He needs to play consistently now but we can't just let Atletico have him for 3 or 4 years for basically free.

Did the Mayans change the end of the world from 2012 to 2018? Because if they didn't, we're still going to need a new keeper at some point.

I'm not sure if we suffer having Courtois in the team instead of Cech. In fact I think it probably gives us about £10 million in transfer funds (at least) and £50,000 in wages at a guess, which allows us to improve other positions.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Lets see how Cech does next season then we'll decide if Courtois should be sold or not.

[Ollie 4,400]

Cech is 30. He's got possibly 8-10 years left. look at Van Der Sar, he was 40? And still in the top level of football.

Courtois is better than a 2nd choice bench warmer but he's not better than our current number 1.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Cech is 30. He's got possibly 8-10 years left. look at Van Der Sar, he was 40? And still in the top level of football.

Courtois is better than a 2nd choice bench warmer but he's not better than our current number 1.

Then in that case we should cash in on Courtois now and hope we find a keeper as good as him somewhere down the line, whilst also hoping that Cech can have the amazing luck with injuries that VDS had.

Looking at it from a business sense though, we have a keeper who is arguably one of the top keepers in Europe (young or not), who is cheaper than the incumbent whilst Cech also has some transfer value. Sometimes you have to make the transition when circumstances dictate rather than taking a risk that you'll have good fortune in future.

[Ollie 4,400]

Personally i'll be gutted to see Cech playing for another team whilst he's still a top keeper. He's a club legend and the longer he's Chelsea's, the better. But that's just my preference. Courtois is probably at the wrong club at the wrong time or maybe he's just progressed quicker than he should've done at Atletico. It's an iffy predicament. I personally would cash in on Courtois and wait for another in 5 or more years. We have coped somehow for a few years with hopeless back ups, hopefully it can carry on.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Personally i'll be gutted to see Cech playing for another team whilst he's still a top keeper. He's a club legend and the longer he's Chelsea's, the better. But that's just my preference. Courtois is probably at the wrong club at the wrong time or maybe he's just progressed quicker than he should've done at Atletico. It's an iffy predicament. I personally would cash in on Courtois and wait for another in 5 or more years. We have coped somehow for a few years with hopeless back ups, hopefully it can carry on.

United are going to win the league this year with a young keeper who isn't as good as Courtois in my opinion.

If we can install a keeper who could last 15 years and cash in on one who would be very lucky to last more than half of that and earns at least twice as much, then it does make a bit of sense.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Cech is becoming quite injury prone - he's had trouble with his right calf persistently since 2009/10 and he now has this problem with his left elbow. He won't be able to play at the very top level for too long IMO; van der Sar had incredible luck with injuries during the latter half of his career. From that angle we will need to eventually replace him in the next two to three years.

Is Courtois good enough to replace him in the long term? Definitely.

Is Courtois currently better than Cech? Not in my opinion.

I can't see Courtois wanting to sit on the bench next season (2013/14), so I believe a loan to a PL club is necessary, before in 2014/15 inducting him into the squad.

[Manuf 1,448]

so many times people said Cech is not good anymore, especially after that injury

so many times Petr had to prove them wrong

ONE CHELSEA KEEPER, THERE'S ONLY ONE CHELSEA KEEPER

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

so many times people said Cech is not good anymore, especially after that injury

so many times Petr had to prove them wrong

ONE CHELSEA KEEPER, THERE'S ONLY ONE CHELSEA KEEPER

LIKE MY SIG...

[The only place to be 11,313]

so many times people said Cech is not good anymore, especially after that injury

so many times Petr had to prove them wrong

ONE CHELSEA KEEPER, THERE'S ONLY ONE CHELSEA KEEPER

Who has said he's not good anymore?

The question is what's best for our long-term future.

[Peace. 4,352]

I find it fun that whenever the matter is about our old-ish players, inevitably the examples of Giggs, Scholes and van der Sar are mentionned. These examples show that a player can still be good at a high age. But that doesn't mean that every players out there (especially ours..) have the divine right to last that long. These players are just exceptions... For every Giggs, Scholes, van der Sar and Maldini, how many players are past it are past-it in their early 30s ? A lot more.

The fact that some players here and there can last till their late 30s does not mean that we have to reckon that it will be the same for ours. If we naively reckon so, then we will build castles into the air and be hurt when reality will catch us up...

Back to Cech now. There are a lot of reasons for which we have to look for a new first choice goalkeeper, sooner than later (in the 2 or 3 next seasons).

As Alex has mentioned, Cech is starting to be injury prone (as we could have seen this season, especially this winter). When a 30 years-old player — whatever his position — becomes injury prone, then it's generally not a good omen. Furthermore, we have witnessed in different situations how badly an injury can affect a player (i.e. Essien and Terry) : his level can drop in a blink of an eye. And bear in mind that Cech has another problem : his head. Since then, it's "healed", but the fact he wears an helmet means that it needs protection (and what it implies). One can assume that at the next violent knock he gets at the head, he might be forced to put an end at his career. Considering his position, it wouldn't be surprising.

On an other hand, he is at Chelsea for the previous nine or ten years. He has been a great servant for us, and has won alsmost everything possible : 1 Champions League, 3 Premier League, 4 FA Cup, 2 League Cup and 2 Community Shield. Does anybody has already envisaged that he might want a new challenge at some point of his career ? I don't know, to win la Liga or el Calcio, for instance.

There are signs showing that he might not keep is level coming 34+ years-old. We don't even know if he still want to be here. Fortunately, we find ourselves in a comfortable situation. We have the possibility to go from a world-class keeper to a bound-to-be-world-class one. I don't think that many teams have, and had, the same possibility.

We should start blooding in Courtois into the starting eleven in the 2014-15 season. Even if Cech is still better — that's not as if the difference of level will be dramatically significant. Though we should not wait more than that ; we have a pretty good opportunity, we should not let it pass us by.

[Ollie 4,400]

In an ideal world, they will be happy to compete with each other in 2 years. GK's can last a while and not just Van Der Sar, Friedel is also still a top class GK. What's best for the club is to have Courtois competing with Cech, having 2 great GKs.

Both points are good though, whatever the situation, we're in a good place with GKs. Cech being injury prone is probably just about fair tbh so maybe it would be good to get Coutois in. Even next season into the squad to give him the cup games for a season and see how he does.

[bluesman2610 1,226]

so many times people said Cech is not good anymore, especially after that injury

so many times Petr had to prove them wrong

ONE CHELSEA KEEPER, THERE'S ONLY ONE CHELSEA KEEPER

To your point Cech has been fantastic to/for us. But you have to also admit there have been some moments when you wondered about the soft goals he has let in. Like Alex said above he isn't the Cech from the 09-10 campaign and these injuries that he has are making him less confident in terms of his collection of air balls among other things, this you can see on a weekly basis. Everyone saying he has another 8 years are being a little sentimental, which is warranted in what he has done for our club but cech has maybe 2 years reamaining at top level before we see a serious decline I think it would be better that we bring the Belgian back loan him to a team that has a keeper get peppered with shots to keep him sharp sign him up for longer term deal and the following season have him and Cech battle for number 1. If we could do it with Cudicini and Cech why can't we do it with Courtois

[bluesman2610 1,226]

In an ideal world, they will be happy to compete with each other in 2 years. GK's can last a while and not just Van Der Sar, Friedel is also still a top class GK. What's best for the club is to have Courtois competing with Cech, having 2 great GKs.

Both points are good though, whatever the situation, we're in a good place with GKs. Cech being injury prone is probably just about fair tbh so maybe it would be good to get Coutois in. Even next season into the squad to give him the cup games for a season and see how he does.

Friedel also has missed maybe 5 games due to injury his whole career. He is like the definition of an IronMan

[BlueLion. 21,491]

If Courtois comes it will also mean Cech has to up his game. He is very comfortable in his position and there is no threat of him being replaced by the vastly inferior Hilario or Turnbull. With some competition, like he had with Cudicini, we may see Cech continue to impress.