Should Arsenal sign Cech, if only to tweak Mourinho?

One wonders whether Cech can have the same effect on Szczesny and Ospina which he had on Courtois

Let's be honest with ourselves, shall we? Ask yourself: how much of my interest in signing Petr ?ech is strategic, and how much of it is borne out of pure spite? In other words, do we really need ?ech for what he'd bring to the club, or are we only after him to wreak some kind of revenge on Mourinho? Don't get me wrong; each of those reasons is noble in its own right.

After all, our own Wojciech Szcz?sny has failed to inspire much confidence, faltering to the point that the unproven but much-more stable David Ospina relegated him to the bench—much as Fabia?ski did a year ago—this time, though, Szcz?sny couldn't or wouldn't reclaim his "rightful" place. Enter ?ech...

Full disclosure: I do like Szcz?sny, or at least the Platonic form of him that arises in my mind. He has it in him to be one of the world's best-keepers. Ironically, his ostensible knowledge of that possibility is precisely what prevents him from realizing that same possibility. In other words, if Szcz?sny didn't already believe that he's capable of being one of the world's best keepers, he'd be one of the world's best keepers. Somewhere, Schrödinger's cat is smirking. Or isn't smirking.

For most of Szcz?sny's time at Arsenal, he's been the unquestioned #1. Even as Ospina, Fabia?ski, Mannone, Lehmann, Almunia, and assorted others have come and gone, it has seemed ever since 2009 that Szcz?sny would be Arsenal's keeper through the next decade or more.

By and large, he's done just barely enough to tantalize us with the idea that he might just become good enough to wear that mantle. However, just as often, he reminds us of what it means to be a bone-head. How might he respond, how much might he improve, if a world-class keeper like ?ech joined the squad?

Thibaut Courtois has attested to the effect that ?ech's presence has had on his own performance, saying the following to L'Equipe:

It's tough when you have a goalkeeper at such a high level. It pushes you to never slacken off. I'm strong in my head and both of us are decisive.

How much did ?ech's presence and mentoring inspire Courtois over the course of the season. That's hard to quantify. How much would his presence and mentoring inspire Szcz?sny? Again, hard to quantify. Between his own performance and the motivation he'd provide to Szcz?sny, would we see gain twelve points, the gap between us and Chelsea? (A corollary question about a drop-off in Courtois' performance comes to mind...). Only time would tell.

At some level, though, we have to ask ourselves whether we're curious about Cech for strategy versus symbolism. Let's be honest when we admit that Chelsea, and especially Chelsea under Mourinho, gets under our skin.

At some level, then, we might have to admit that signing Cech might matter more for the power-play than for the points. The man is a legend. If we were to sign him away, we could shout even louder, "you ain't got no history!" because we would have, ironically, transferred what little history the club does have.

At another level, we could expose Mourinho for the rank rent-boy that he is as he oversees the transfer of one of Chelsea's few iconic players to his own most-hated rival. That Abramovich prefers to see Cech treated with a modicum of respect—respect he might only find at a club like Arsenal—would ice the cake all the more.Setting such base ambitions aside, I'd love for Cech to come to the right side of London. The impact he could have on both Szcz?sny and Ospina, not to mention Martínez and others is, again, immeasurable. To have a keeper of his class and quality mentoring, monitoring, and motivating our callow clique of keepers might mean far more than the transfer-fee or weekly wages he commands. Whaddaya say, Petr? Fancy a run-out at a club that might actually respect you rather than merely rent you?