Petr Cech turns down Napoli switch as he prepares to fight for Arsenal role

Staying put | Cech
REUTERS
James Benge1 July 2018

Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has confirmed he turned down a move to Napoli to fight for his place at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners spent £22million to bring in Bernd Leno from Bayer Leverkusen earlier this summer – beating Napoli to the punch – and the German is expected to start the season as Unai Emery’s first-choice between the sticks.

The new manager will not be short for choice, with experienced internationals Cech and David Ospina both currently available to him, though it appears inevitable that one or other will leave this summer.

Cech, 36 and newly in possession of the Arsenal No.1 jersey, is insistent that it won’t be him.

Arsenal's most expensive transfers

1/10

“There was interest from Napoli, it’s true, but my future is at Arsenal,” he said.

“I am not thinking about a change of club. Now there are three in competition for the Arsenal gloves and I am ready.”

Ospina is not expected to make a decision on his future until after the World Cup – Colombia play England in the round of 16 on Tuesday – but Turkish giants Fenerbahce have a long-standing interest in the 29-year-old, whose involvement with Arsenal over recent seasons has largely been confined to cup competitions.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in