Chelsea FC player evaluations 2015/16: 4 ex-Blues
By George Perry
Petr Cech: Arsenal
Chelsea fans were upset when the club released Didier Drogba, but at least they could give him a proper send-off knowing he would never oppose Chelsea on the pitch.
The Stamford Bridge faithful thought such would be the case with Frank Lampard’s transfer to New York City FC. Even as Lampard was (ahem) loaned from NYCFC to Manchester City, Chelsea fans were assured Manuel Pellegrini would not play Lampard against his beloved Blues. But then Lampard was sent on the pitch at the Etihad wearing the wrong shade of blue, and we won’t revisit what happened next.
When Chelsea sold Petr Cech, the fans did not have any momentary reprieves or illusions. The club’s most decorated keeper was not only staying in the Premier League, but he was staying in London. Playing for Arsenal. Tasked with reversing the fortunes of North London’s specialist in failure.
His transfer fee was almost an insult. At £11 million, Arsenal paid less than £1 million for each trophy Cech won with Chelsea. Anointing Thibaut Courtois the starting keeper and selling Cech for a bargain, Chelsea signalled their conclusion that Cech was over the hill and his best days were behind him.
Well.
16 clean sheets, 102 saves and a second-place finish later, Petr Cech is preparing for yet another season of Champions League football. Cech’s replacement at Stamford Bridge? Five clean sheets on 23 appearances, 2 red cards, transfer rumors of his own and a D+ end-of-season rating from Pride of London.
One of the challenges of managing a team’s roster year after year is knowing when a player has peaked, and off-loading him as soon as possible while his value is still high. Chelsea sold Petr Cech at age 33, which is the second half of a player’s career but still solidly within the prime years for a goalkeeper.
Other than being benched in favor of Courtois for much of the 2014/15 season, Cech’s statistics from his last few seasons with Chelsea show little evidence of a performance decrement. In his last two seasons as Chelsea’s starting goalkeeper, Cech produced results nearly identical to his season at Arsenal. His 16 clean sheets this year matched his 2013/14 total, and his 102 saves were the second-highest season total of his career.
Petr Cech’s 2015/16 campaign at Arsenal was not a renaissance, resurrection or revitalization. It was the continuation of his previous decade at Chelsea and, in retrospect, should have been his most recent season at Stamford Bridge.
Next: Juan Mata