by Nia Griffiths

Early rumours that Chelsea would only sell us Petr Cech in return for one of our homegrown players have been put to bed.

As we’ve recently reported on Daily Cannon, it appears our signing of the Chelsea goalkeeper is edging closer by the day. However, the terms of the agreement have remained unclear, with rumours circulating early on that we would have to offer one of our homegrown players in return for the ‘keeper’s signature.

A couple of the top teams are scrabbling to gather homegrown talent ahead of the potential rule change in 2016 and Chelsea are one of them.

However, Sky Sports have now reported that this is not the case and that the deal will be cash only. The report also claims that personal terms ‘in principle‘ have been decided upon. Other than this, and the fact that the 33-year-old is said to be ‘grateful‘ for the opportunity to move, not much is known about the transfer and it’s expected that talks will continue this week.

A Chelsea veteran

Cech has played for Chelsea for 11 years now – a lifetime in the footballing world – so it’s doubtful that he took the decision to move lightly. The fact that he’s happy to move to rivals shows his desire to play and I’m sure our younger goalkeepers can learn a great deal from his professionalism.

What’s more, is that the Czech international’s record versus us is pretty good. He’s kept 10 clean sheets against us in 22 appearances and only featured in four matches where the Blues have lost against us. Our rivals not having him in their squad can therefore only be a good thing.