Mourinho understands Cech's decision to join Arsenal, has no issues with Roman Abramovich

No hard feelings – Petr Cech and Jose Mourinho has spoken of the respect they have for each other

Jose Mourinho has broken his silence on Petr Cech’s transfer to Arsenal, praising the departing goalkeeper for his long service to the Blues, in a statement released on Chelsea’s official website. Cech completed his long-awaited transfer for a fee of around £11 million on Monday, signing a four-year contract at the Emirates.

“Petr has been a great servant for Chelsea for 11 years and helped this club to win almost everything there is to win.” Mourinho said.

The Portuguese manager reiterated his stance that he would have liked the Czech goalkeeper to remain at Stamford Bridge, but fully supports Cech’s decision to depart the Premier League champions.

“I always said I wanted him to stay, but I understand Petr needed to move on to play first team football every week. You have to respect the wishes of someone who has earned so much respect with his actions to the club.”

“Petr’s success at the club will always be remembered and we thank him for everything he did,” Chelsea’s press release read.

Mourinho rubbishes talk of rift with club owner Roman Abramovich

Mourinho also downplayed the so-called rift with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich over the way in which the Petr Cech transfer was handled. In fact, the self-proclaimed Special One said he was proud of the way the club acted for not standing in the player’s way.

Mourinho said there were noo issues with club owner Roman Abramovich

“I support the owner’s decision to honour the player in this way. I am proud of my club for making it.

“There are not many clubs in the world big enough to be able to make that decision,” Mourinho told Chelsea’s official website.

Cech speaks of his admiration of Mourinho

After the Czech goalkeeper failed to mention Jose Mourinho in the open letter he penned to Chelsea fans in the aftermath of his transfer to Arsenal being officially announced, it led to suggestions in social media circles that all was not well between the pair. Cech, however, has spoken of the mutual respect they have for each other and thanked Mourinho for the role he has played in shaping his career.

“I will always keep the best regards for him because we had so much success and so much respect for each other. He is one of the best managers in the world,” Cech told Chelsea’s official website.

Mourinho signed Cech from French club Rennes in 2004 during his first spell in charge at Stamford Bridge and enjoyed a trophy-laden spell at Chelsea, before falling behind Thibaut Courtois in the pecking order.

“I learned a lot of things from Mourinho and one of that was that if you have to make a hard decision, you need to do it if you believe it is the right choice,” he explained.