Petr Cech spoke in a new interview with the Standard Sport about his relationship with his former goalkeeping coach, Christophe Lollichon.

Cech credited the coach, who followed him from Rennes to Chelsea, with a lot of his development and progression as a goalkeeper.

Speaking to the Standard Sport, Cech said, “There are so many different ways you can catch a ball in different situations so you try to find the best way to get faster on the floor and to be more agile. This is how I started. I had certain things I was doing and then he said, ‘well, why don’t you try this because I think you will reach further?’

He went on, “I didn’t think it would be possible but then I started doing it and I realised he was right. I could reach further. This is something we started off and then when you go and feel that’s interesting, we look at the position of the goalkeeper in terms of the defence — how high you go and all these situations.”

Although Lollichon was unable to follow the 33-year-old to Arsenal, it’s fantastic to see him still praising his former coach. It’s obvious there’s a lot of mutual respect between the two and it’s a shame he couldn’t move to north London with him, especially considering how long they trained together.

Cech has now become one of the most revered goalkeepers in the world and just recently broke David James’ record for the most clean sheets kept in the Premier League ever. If the Czech international continues to excel, it’s almost scary what he could become.

He has a lot to thank Lollichon for.