JOIN USGoalkeepers in big demand
When the summer temperatures soar in Europe, so does the urge for the big clubs to spend some of their ever-growing television revenues.
Normally, the strikers are the big beasts on the transfer merry-go-round, at least in terms of transfer fees and salaries. But this off-season, it is the goalkeepers who are making the carousel spin.
Last Monday, Arsenal completed the $16 million purchase of Petr Cech from its crosstown rival in London, Chelsea.
Cech’s move after more than a decade as Chelsea’s last line of defence has a heartwarming element. Some within the club said that while Coach José Mourinho had no intention of letting one of his keepers go to strengthen a Premier League rival, the owner Roman Abramovich intervened and decided that Cech should be allowed to go where he wanted, in gratitude for all he had done for Chelsea.
The owner is an oligarch with a soft heart? Surely not. Abramovich is a hard-nosed businessman, obviously. But Cech, a Czech, was one of the first players Abramovich bought when he took over Chelsea a dozen years ago, and the club has won 15 major trophies since the keeper joined in 2004.
Cech worked his way back into the lineup after he fractured his skull in a collision with a Reading player in 2006, and he has worn his distinctive black rugby head gear ever since. And whenever Cech’s loyalty was tested, he has always stepped up, no matter who was in the lineup or who was the coach -- and there have been many over the years under Abramovich.
Abramovich does not speak publicly, but if the story around Stamford Bridge stadium is true -- if the boss did overrule the head coach and allow Cech to keep his young family where they have settled, in London -- then bully for Abramovich.
Could it be true? I believe it. Those who have worked for the Russian - like Bruce Buck, the American lawyer who also is chairman of the club -- have talked about the human side of Abramovich that most don’t get to see.
Why is Chelsea letting the keeper go when, at 33, there is plenty of career left in him? Because the club also has Thibaut Courtois, the much younger Belgian (23) who is a giant of a keeper, and probably the best of a rising generation at his position.
Chelsea, by the way, will buy a top-notch replacement for Cech, quite likely Stoke City’s No 1, Asmir Begovic, or the Queens Park Rangers veteran Rob Green, in case Courtois gets injured or plays poorly.
One thing is for sure: what happened last season could not continue, with Cech being cast in the role of the understudy. He has proved himself as one of a handful of men in the world who are masters of that strangely isolated role, the goalkeeper, and never more so than during his man-to-man duel against Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo during the 2012 European Championship.
The Portuguese threatened the Czech goal 19 times during that quarterfinal in Warsaw. Most of the shots and headers came from Ronaldo, and all but one were blocked because of the agility, reach, anticipation and courage of the man in the black head gear.
If ever soccer, the team game, was both reduced and elevated into a personal duel between two magnificent athletes, that was it. Yet time, as they say, waits for no man. Chelsea has rightly chosen the future in Courtois over the past of Cech, and its owner has magnanimously decided to risk whatever value Cech might now give to a major rival.
John Terry, who has played alongside Cech during all of his 11 years in Chelsea and is the only person to have done so, has opined that Cech could be worth 12 to 15 points per season to Arsenal. If he is right, that would put the Gunners within striking distance of Chelsea’s position as champion of the English league.
Can one man be worth so much? Cech could, if his experience and proven leadership can organise a better defence, which has been Arsenal’s weak point since 2003 when goalkeeper David Seaman left.
Cech is not the only keeper on the transfer carousel. Within a few weeks, it is likely that Real Madrid will reach a deal -- quite possibly for three times as much as Cech’s transfer -- to bring Manchester United’s outstanding Spanish keeper, David de Gea, back home.
Although United signed Victor Valdés, the Barcelona veteran, as a backup last year, it is likely that Manchester will still pursue a replacement for De Gea. And that could be Tottenham Hotspurs’ fine Frenchman, Hugo Lloris.
Spurs say they won’t sell Lloris, who is not only the keeper, but the club captain. But Tottenham always puts a price on its players and habitually sells them. So if -- or when -- Lloris moves up to Manchester, who replaces him?
Tottenham is eyeing Steve Mandanda, the supremely agile Frenchman currently employed by Marseille. Give the carousel another spin, and the speculation is that Mandanda’s likely replacement at Marseille could be David Ospina.
Ospina’s play has been spectacular of late. He was defiant and reliable in the second half of the season for Arsenal, and he pulled off a thrilling double save as Colombia lost on penalties to Argentina in the Copa América.
When Sergio Agüero shot low from six yards out, Ospina deflected the ball with his left foot. As it spun in the air, Lionel Messi headed it toward the goal. Ospina sprang up from the ground to glove the ball over his crossbar. Even as Ospina flies back to London, he knows that Arsenal is securing Cech to replace him (and Wojciech Szczesny, the Polish keeper who was the No 1 before Ospina).
Keepers are fortunate in that their careers last much longer than position players. But there is only one per team, and the bench is a terrible place to be at age 33, when the clock is ticking on a world-class career.