The former Chelsea star admitted that he was close to joining the Gunners from Sparta Prague in 2002, but work permit issues scuppered the move
Arsenal's new goalkeeper Petr Cech has admitted that he almost joined the club as a teenager.
Now 33, the Czech Republic goalkeeper was playing for Sparta Prague at the time. Both parties were interested but the move was held up by work permit issues.
"There was a chance before I went to France that I could sign for Arsenal but I was only 18 or 19 and at that time Czech Republic were not in the European Union," he told Arsenal.com.
"You needed a work permit and the conditions were to play 75 per cent of the first-team games for the national team, which at the time was impossible for me to get. In the end I went to France because I couldn't get a work permit.
"I had a few teams who were interested but Arsenal was one of the main ones. I was so excited because of the Premier League and big clubs but unfortunately it was not the time for me to come.
"It was later with Chelsea, and I'm obviously grateful for that, but you can never prepare the ways in your life and you'll never know where you'll end up. So here we are."
The former Chelsea star's £11m move across London solves what has been a problem position for Arsene Wenger since Jens Lehmann left in 2008 - and Cech revealed the Frenchman played a huge part in his decision to sign for the Gunners.
He added: "I had a good chat with him and it was the first time after the club approached me that I could speak to him in private for such a long time.
"He made me believe that this was the right step and that this is the club with a lot of ambition. I have a lot of personal motivation and ambition and the club definitely matches it.
No comments:
Post a Comment