by Lewis Ambrose

The signing of Petr Čech has been hailed as a great piece of business, one most Arsenal fans wouldn’t think twice about, but Arsène Wenger has said going for the goalkeeper was a difficult choice.

The Arsenal manager is well known for caring about his players, but has shown a ruthless side by bringing Čech in. Last season saw David Ospina enjoy his first campaign for the Gunners, keeping eight clean sheets in 18 Premier League games after winning the number one shirt from Wojciech Szczesny.

The Pole was reinstated for FA Cup games as Arsenal went on to retain the famous old trophy, and that left Wenger with a bit of a problem.

“It was a very, very tough decision [to buy Cech] because I have two great goalkeepers. I think Cech can make them better as well,” said Wenger, speaking to Arsenal Player ahead of the trip to Singapore. While there Čech should make his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt while competing for the Barclays Asia Trophy.

Signing Čech is likely to leave one of those goalkeepers in the cold, but the Arsenal manager is expecting the Czech international to have a big impact on the training ground.

“He has huge experience and the fact that he has won more big trophies can strengthen the belief of the team. That can help them to develop and that’s what I expect from him.”

With both Szczesny and Ospina willing to stay and learn from Čech, Arsenal are in a tough situation. Neither would be happy as third choice goalkeeper, and Wenger will have another tough decision to make as the transfer window goes on.