The Czech international, the Gunners' first summer signing, could have moved to north London in 2002 but was denied a work permit, so w...
The Czech international, the Gunners' first summer signing, could have moved to north London in 2002 but was denied a work permit, so went to Rennes in France instead
Petr Cech has revealed he could have become an Arsenal player more than a decade ago had work permit restrictions not scuppered a switch to the Premier League.
The Czech Republic international completed a move to Emirates Stadium from rivals Chelsea on Monday after falling becoming second choice for Jose Mourinho behind Thibaut Courtois.
However, Cech could have been first choice at Arsenal much sooner had their original move for him in 2002 gone through, with the goalkeeper instead leaving Sparta Prague for Rennes, before arriving at Chelsea for what became a memorable 11-year stint.
"There was a chance before I went to France to join Rennes for me to sign for Arsenal, but I was only 18 or 19 and, at that time, Czech Republic were not in the European Union," he told the club's official website.
"You needed a work permit and the conditions were that you had to play 75 per cent of the first-team games for the national team, which, at the time, was impossible for me to get. In the end I went to France because I couldn't get a work permit.
"Back then, a few teams were interested in me but Arsenal was one of the main ones. I was so excited because of the Premier League and big clubs coming in for me but unfortunately it was not the time for me to come to England.
"My time was later with Chelsea, and I'm obviously grateful for that, but you never know where you'll end up. Here we are and I hope that I can replicate here everything that I have managed to achieve in the past decade.
"If I could have got my work permit, maybe my story would have been a completely different story but here we are 10 or more years later, and now we can write the story again."
