Arsenal To Sign Petr Cech After Agreeing £11m Fee With Chelsea

As the opening of the summer transfer window approaches, managers are working hard identifying targets and lining-up potential deals so we’ll bring you all the news and gossip. Today, Arsenal agree a fee for Petr Cech….

Arsenal are set to announce Petr Cech as their first signing of the summer after finally agreeing an £11m fee with Chelsea today, according to the Mirror.

Cech has been hotly tipped to leave Chelsea this summer after losing his first team place to Thibaut Courtois last season and Sky Sports claimed over the weekend the Czech international had agreed personal terms with Arsenal.

An agreement with Chelsea was the only thing preventing the deal from going through but that hurdle appears to have been overcome as the Mirror claim that the Gunners agreed an £11m fee with their London rivals following talks this afternoon.

The newspaper suggests the 33-year-old chose Arsenal after snubbing interest from PSG as his family are settled in London and the keeper has agreed personal terms worth around £100,000-a-week.

The Daily Mail are also running a very similar story and while no transfer should be considered a ‘done deal’ until it’s officially announced by one of the clubs, it does appear that Cech is on the verge of moving to the Emirates.

If the deal gets over the line, Cech will become Arsenal’s first signing of the summer transfer window and coincidentally, his first appearance for his new club could be against Chelsea as the FA Cup winners take on the champions in the Community Shield at Wembley on August 2.

The news comes shortly after John Terry claimed that Cech would be an excellent signing for Arsenal with the Chelsea skipper telling talkSPORT the keeper would save the Gunners between 12 and 15 points a season.

“There’s talk of Arsenal signing Petr Cech and, if they do get him, he will strengthen them for sure. He will save them 12 or 15 points a season,” Terry told talkSPORT

“Petr was an unbelievable professional last year. When you get left out of the team it can be hard to accept but, when he came in [to the side], he was exceptional.

“He deserves a lot of credit for that. We understand he wants to play first-team football but nobody wants to see him leave the club.

“He’s going to be sorely missed and will improve any side he goes to.”

There’s no doubt that if Arsenal do wrap-up the signing of Cech it will be something of a coup and Arsene Wenger will finally have a goalkeeper he can rely upon between the sticks – which is something he hasn’t had since the days of Jens Lehmann.

However, Cech’s impending arrival will cast doubt over the future’s of David Ospina and Wojciech Szczesny with one of the duo likely to leave this summer.

Szczesny was axed as No.1 back in January and although Ospina performed admirably during the second half of the season, Cech is certainly an upgrade and the Mirror claim that the Colombian is now close to making a switch to Fenerbache.

READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news | Chelsea transfer news

If that deal goes through, then it looks like Szczesny will stay to fight for his place but I highly doubt he’ll be able to oust Cech from the No.1 shirt any time soon.

The papers seem to think Cech’s move to Arsenal is almost complete but I’d wait for further developments and something concrete to come out from one of the clubs before Gooners go buying their new shirts with Cech’s name on the back.