Why I Had To Leave Chelsea - Petr Cech

Arsenal star and Czech international, Petr Cech has disclosed why he left Chelsea to join Arsenal instead of staying to regain his spot.

The 33-year-old lost his place to Thibaut Courtois and seeing that the future did not hold much for him at Stamford Bridge, he had to pack his bags and say goodbye.

Mourinho was reluctant to let him leave not to talk of allowing him join their rivals but being that club owner, Roman Abramovich wanted to repay his loyalty, he was allowed to decide where he wanted to go.

One would have expected that the veteran goalkeeper will stay and fight for his spot but he did not see that as the right thing to do at that point in his career and as such had to fly off.

“Last year I realised that the club [Chelsea] had sort of turned the page from me,” he said. “I knew the manager had made his choice and that this was not for me at this point of my career. 

“If I was new to the club or I had been there two or three years, then you might think: ‘Okay, let’s fight for my place and see what the outcome will be.’ 

“But at my age and after all I’ve done it was like a chapter closing. Sometimes you have to think about yourself, and this was the best thing for me. At 33, I don’t want to just give things time, just to wait and see. So, after all I’d done at Chelsea, I felt it was the right time to move on.”