Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho has spoken on goalkeeper Petr Cech’s transfer to cross-town rivals Arsenal. The player completed the move on Monday, bringing an end to a fantastic Chelsea career which spanned 11 years.
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Mourinho — who insisted some weeks ago, that he would block Cech from moving to the Gunners if he could — says that he respects Roman Abramovich’s decision to let the stopper choose his destination, but would have preferred it if he stayed.
The manager, speaking to Chelseafc.com, thanked Cech for his wonderful years of service, also empathizing with him and his need for regular first team football.
Will Cech's move to Arsenal divide Mourinho and Abramovich again? @liam_twomey takes a look: http://t.co/nu9tEAmUhF pic.twitter.com/1GERsIzXtL
— GOAL News (@GoalNews) June 29, 2015
“Petr has been a great servant for Chelsea for 11 years and helped this club to win almost everything there is to win.” said Mourinho.
“I always said I wanted him to stay but I understand Petr needed to move on to play first team football every week. Sometimes you have to respect the wishes of someone who has earned so much respect with his service and actions for your club. I support the owner’s decision to honour the player in this way.”
Mourinho must hate the fact that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger finally has something over him, but praised Chelsea for showing such class given the circumstances.
He said “It is very rare in football to make a decision like this and for that reason I am proud of my club for making it. There are not many clubs in the world big enough to be able to make that decision.”
“Petr’s success at this club will always to be remembered and we thank him for everything he did.”
The Czech international shares a great relationship with his former manager. Mourinho gave Cech his first shot at stardom back in 2004, helping Cech become one of the finest keepers the world has ever seen.
The keeper understands Mourinho’s decision, but also stated that he needed to make his own decisions as a result. He also believes that the controversial transfer should not put any dents in the relationship they built over the successful years.
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“He (Mourinho) had to make his decision at the start of last season, I had to make my decision at the start of this season but I will always keep the best regards for him because I believe that we had so much success and so much respect for each other,” claims Cech.
“He is one of the best managers in the world. Now, we will be opponents but it will not change our relationship, I believe.”
“I learned a lot from him and one of those things was that if you have to make a hard decision, you need to make sure that you do it if you believe it is the right choice.”