In my last post Victor Valdes fights for a Better Contract I have mentioned that in all this contract fight Victor Valdes could be the biggest loser. With a chance of Valdes moving out, there are reports emerging about FC Barcelona looking seriously for a replacement. And the first named to be linked is not some small one - it is Peter Cech, the current Chelsea custodian. FC Barcelona was interested in signing the Czech some years back; but if the MundoDeportivo is to be believed, they have not yet given up on the pursuit of him. Peter Cech is widely regarded as one of the best in Europe. Currently he is 26 years old and has so much playing time left in his career. But it is still difficult to imagine Chelsea letting him go. In 2007 when quizzed about a move to Barcelona, Cech did sound a bit positive and that fact should give hope for FC Barcelona establishment. But the chances of signing him at this moment remains very slight and cannot see the bosses going all out after him. FC Barcelona management would like to keep their pursuit as secretive as possible, true to their management style.
Peter Cech could be one of rare goalies who has some kind of record in wherever he played. He holds the Czech professional league record of not conceding a goal in 855 competitive minutes. He also has a club record at his former team Sparta Praha, having gone 928 minutes unbeaten in all competitions in 2001—2002. During the 2004-05 season, Cech went 1,025 minutes without conceding a goal - a former Premier League record until Edwin van der Sar of Manchester United bettered it. Wikipedia says that "Cech started out as a midfielder/striker for the youth team of his hometown club Viktoria Plzen, occasionally taking the centre forward position in games.He started playing in goal when there main goalkeeper couldn't come anymore." Now that's going to make Barca fans more happy. But as I mentioned earlier - he would be a great signing, but difficult one to complete. In other news The doctor who performed operation on Milito's Knee sounded confident of about Milito's return to competitive football this season. It's almost a year since he played last. He has slowly returned to normal training but when he will get to play is still a mystery.