by Lewis Ambrose

It is safe to say that Arsenal fans were pleased to see the club sign goalkeeper Petr Čech from Chelsea.

The excitement to see him in goal for Arsenal only grew at the weekend as Čech pulled off a superb save in his Arsenal debut and the Gunner went on to win the Barclays Asia Trophy with a 3-1 win over Everton.

Someone, however, remains unconvinced by Arsène Wenger’s choice.

“Petr Cech is a very good goalkeeper but he’s not at his best,” said former England goalkeeper David James.

“At 33 years of age, there’s nothing to say he can’t get back to the form of Petr Cech at his best though.

“If he does then Arsenal still have one hell of a goalkeeper but Chelsea still get £11million for a 33-year-old with one year left on his contract.”

If that save he made at the weekend was Čech not yet at his best I can’t wait to see what the goalkeeper has in store for the rest of his time at the club. If we hadn’t signed Čech we would have seen David Ospina and Wojciech Szczesny fight for the number one shirt. Surely nobody on the market this summer would have been as big an upgrade as the Champions League and four-time Premier League winning Czech international?

“For sure, If I was an Arsenal fan I would have been happier to have signed Begovic – £8m for Begovic and £11m for Cech,” James added.

Come again?

“(Chelsea) have gone out and bought Asmir Begovic, who was sought after by many big clubs and in the last two or three years, Begovic has been up there as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League,” declared the former Liverpool, Manchester City and Portsmouth man.

“(Begovic has) longevity because of his age, and, alongside Thibaut Courtois, you’ve got two of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League with 15-plus years ahead of them.”

So Begović – 28 years of age and with no medals to his name (Bosnian footballer of the year 2013 doesn’t count) – would have been a better signing? He is five years younger than Čech yet has 15 or more years ahead of him while the new Arsenal goalkeeper is already past his best?

Please do stop it, Mr. David James. You’re embarrassing yourself.