Reports of Cech nearing an Arsenal move is not good news for Chelsea

There are numerous rumours doing the rounds that Arsenal have a deal in place for Cech

The rumours of Petr Cech’s move to Arsenal are gathering strength but there’s nothing's official it. And one can’t believe it until appears in the club's website. Rumours of a move to PSG seem to have been scotched, and so it seems that the want-away keeper could end up at Arsenal.

We're likely see a surge in lurid headlines that feature words in all-capital letters like ‘EXCLUSIVE’ and ‘SHOCKING’ and so on (similar to my own, I must admit). Whether there's fire with all of that smoke remains to be seen.

?ech, at 33, probably still has four or five years of world-class level play in him. Some bring up the cautionary tale of Iker Casillas, a year older but in precipitous decline. Casillas's performance, however, has depended on athleticism and reaction time, qualities that deteriorate with age. A better comparison might be made to Gianluigi Buffon, four years older than ?ech but still mentioned in the "world's best keeper" conversations.

Like Buffon, ?ech depends more on positioning and anticipation than on quickness and reaction. As such, it stands to reason that ?ech can and will continue to control his area much as he has for the better part of the last decade.

We finished 12 points behind Chelsea this past season—not bad considering their blistering start and our shambolic one. ?ech is arguably still good enough to help us keep half of those points, either by playing or by motivating and mentoring Ospina and Szcz?sny.

The two of them would have to know that they'd no longer be measured against each other but against one of the best keepers in the Premier League (and the world). No longer would they be able to say, "I'm better than Mannone/Fabianski/Almunia" and assume that the position is theirs—an attitude far more true of Szcz?sny than Ospina.

Bring in ?ech and both keepers know that it's time to get busy. However, I'm not here for an in-depth analysis of what ?ech would mean for our ambitions. After all, we're still slumming in scurrilous rumours. There will be time enough for that later.

Making a big statement

For now, let's indulge in some equally hypothetical but shamelessly satisifying schadenfreude. Should ?ech find his way to the right side of London, we'll have got one over Mourinho in legendary fashion.

Sure, the fans will throw Fabregas's name in our faces, but that's false equivalency. Around these parts, Fabregas forfeited his Gooner/Gunner status not when he joined Chelsea but when he forced his way out, confirming his status as a front-runner.

?ech, as one of the only bastions of Chelsea's history, wants to compete. Mourinho doesn't want to see him come to Arsenal. Abramovich, apparently, wants to honor ?ech's service and let him have a say in where he goes.

If we can't compete directly with Chelsea on the pitch, what with the massive financial advantages that Abramovich confers on the club, we can at least go for irony. If it's Abramovich who's willing to sell ?ech for £14m, who are we to turn up our noses? It's been said that ?ech admires Arsenal's philosophy and style of play.

On its face, the signing wouldn't automatically elevate us to the status of Prem contenders—but it would send a stark message about the contrast between Arsenal and Chelsea: the former, a club that values performance and character; the latter, a club that rent-boys and flavors of the month.