Then again you could understand not spending £8m+ on any of those you mentioned if Cesar is available basically for free.

Don't think we need to worry about the long term with Cesar. He's only 33, if he signs and it works out he could be our number 1 for 3 seasons or so easily.

I appreciate there's a risk involved, but keepers are always tricky no matter who you go for, and if Cesar can get back close to his best he'd be a terrific signing. He was genuine world class not that long ago. And he's had a good first season in England, so maybe he's primed to kick on now.

Clrnc wrote:

Ultimately in the long run those players would be much more worth it

Or they could flop badly playing for a big club for the first time. And the two Germans could struggle with adapting to a new country. Cesar has more top level experience than those four combined.

Really hard to predict how a keeper will go, probably more so than any other position.

The problem that I have with Cesar, and it's admittedly mostly down to my own imagination, is that I can see his signing being a "let's not kill Chesney, but we could do with an alternative" type of deal, rather than really going out and getting the best available.

Who was the last experienced, decorated, old man keeper we signed? LEHMANN!

[size=xx-small]Or was it Poom...[/size]

Anyway, I don't feel strongly about this signing either way. If it allows us to concentrate on bringing in the big buys further forward, then cool.

... of course, that's somewhat unlikely 🙁

Isn't Cesar extremely dodgy on crosses as well?

He had a fantastic season with QPR though, can't remember much gaffes though he is extremely capable of fuck ups.

In the games I have seen last season - he had a season on par with Sneezey. I am well happy with Sneezey as first choice. Needs to improve mainly on mid range shots, but other than that he is a better goalkeeper than Cesar has proved in the last 3 years.

César has loads of experience, plenty of trophies, and has been excellent in the past. He is young enough (for a keeper) to still compete for a first team role, yet old enough to not hinder Szczesny's development or block his path.

He's just had a solid season, has adapted to the premiership, already (presumably) has decent English, already lives in London, his family is already here and there will be no adaptation period on the pitch or off the pitch.

So what if his wages may seem a bit high, this signing would be excellent in my opinion. We don't need a world class keeper imo, Szczesny will be great, he just needs some solid competition and César would certainly provide that and may even usurp him for the next season or two.

Cesar is capable of spectacular saves, no doubt, and is a very good shot stopper. However, he struggles in the air due to his height, and he is unreliable. Last season he easily made more clear mistakes leading to goals than Sneezey made. No joke.

He also had a shit load more to do. For me, judged objectively and without looking at age, Shezny is a bog average keeper at the moment. And his weaknesses are the same now as they were 2 years ago. His kicking is the worst in the league.

Remains to be seen whether Cesar can do better, or if we even sign him. He's not been world class for a little while now and i don't know if he can get that form back. My strong suspicion is that if we do sign him he'll usurp Shezny pretty quickly and prove to be a much better goalkeeper, at least in the short-medium term.

Timothy wrote:

He also had a shit load more to do.

Doesn't that usually make average keepers look better?

Sometimes.

What's that got to do with Cesar?

It does. Also, at a lesser team like QPR you tend to have your back 4 close to you much of the time due to them being under pressure a lot. Playing for Arsenal is very different.

Not saying that Cesar can't handle that though since he did just that playing for Inter Milan. He was just not very good there in his last seasons.

Anyway, if he is really coming he will be coming here as first choice certainly for the world cup.

Mentally prepared for Szczesny's father comments already

Clrnc wrote:

Isn't Cesar extremely dodgy on crosses as well?

He had a fantastic season with QPR though, can't remember much gaffes though he is extremely capable of fuck ups.

He's always been, even when he was very good few seasons ago.

Cesar is done at the top level IMO. I'd rather have Reina who's also past it, but at least he still remains the best footballing keeper in the league.

Show some ambition and put in a serious bid for Handanovic ffs!

A cheaper alternative(to handanovic) could be Lopez. He really impressed me in his 2nd spell at Madrid. Not fazed with all the pressure that came with replacing Casillas and was actually one of Madrid's better performers in the 2nd half of the season. Pulled off some unbelievable saves(Casillas like). Word is, he's looking for a move away from the Bernabau this summer.

I also liked Lopez every time i saw him. Wouldnt be crazy to think he wants out now that Casillas will probably reclaim his no1 spot.

As for Cesar, its really hard to judge him fairly as Inter was a total mess in his last year and QPR had defenders like Traore and Hill.

Actually Lopez is a very good shout. Thought he was excellent at Real.

Yeah agree. Some unbelievable saves by him this season.

Cesar is comfortably better than Reina though.

This deal needs Wenger's famous 'personal touch' to go through.

23 days later

Decided to watch a highlight reel of his and it is almost exclusive punching, blocking and deflecting shots which often resulted in a scramble to win the loose ball. The one time he actually caught and held onto the ball was a tame header, straight at him, by Chamakh at about 4:26.
Made me worry about what he is like on corners and high balls into the box.

ebouefan wrote:

This deal needs Wenger's famous 'personal touch' to go through.

For the love of God Wenger- "Make a lower offer."

Completely useless signing if we are actually pursuing him.

He's shocking aerially and his strengths of being a good shot stopper will be utilized even less at Arsenal. Dont know if he is OK with a bench role as well, because he can very well get the undisputed first choice role at a top/mid table club in a world cup year.

He will fit will into our tradition of conceding against the first attempt.

not particularly impressed by cesar. ches is capable of keeping him out of the side imo

Iloveyouarsenewenger wrote:

Signing Cesar = More chances to Szczesny

Not sure if you mean that that's a bad thing or not.

That is because I am not certain about it. Wenger is a huge admirer or Lloris and in any other year apart from last, we'd have snapped up Lloris the moment he was available for a decent price. But, we clearly did not go for him because we had faith in Szczesny to turn into a top Goalie. At that time, it made me a bit uneasy, but, I was still okay with the call. But, after last season, I am not so sure about Szczesny any more. He is well be very good for his age but he clearly doesn't seem to be good enough for us, at his current level.

The likes of Mignolet and Begovich could have been very good long term solutions based on last season, but, we're again going for someone whose primary virtue is that he won't drive Szczesny away from the club. A goalkeeper has a role to play in the business end of the game and having a top goalkeeper who does not make mistakes and who can pull off great saves is a huge advantage for a team.

If Szczesny doesn't make have a much improved season this year, we'd end up looking like chumps once again.

He finished the season very strongly indeed. Just need him to be consistent throughout the season at roughly that level. He'll make some howlers - every keeper does. But his 'quality' is that he generally makes less mistakes than other 'keepers, and if you watched more of the 90 mins Hart and De Gea play, youd see that. The downside is that Szczesny doesnt make as many spectacular saves. he generally does what you expect from a keeper and a little more. But the Hart's are a but more erratic - but have more amazing eye-catching games which (rightly) elevates their reputations. Still, Szczesny saved us quite a few points at the last 1/3 of the season, and its a massive change previous keepers where we used to panic every time we conceded a corner.

I didn't see a point of signing Lloris, mainly because I have good faith in Szczesny. But on hindsight we should have signed Lloris because he is better than Szczesny last season. Heck, even Fabianski was better than Szczesny.

That said, Szczesny still have good potential and I think he can step it up. Not sure we should sign Julio Cesar on high wages, just keep Fabiansk.

I'd prefer Cesar over Fabianski purely because of his pedigree and vast experience. He may not the best there is, but, he is much more likely to last the entire season without having a terrible period or a sudden loss of confidence or fitness than Fabianski.

Some meaningless stats for your info. Those who came across from A-M may remember I used to have a long list of these. Can't find it now, so here is the abridged Arsenal-specific version.

Pat Jennings = 183cm
Casillas = 185cm
Cesar = 186cm (6' 1")
Jens Lehmann, Fabianski = 190cm (nearly 6' 3")
David Seaman = 193cm
Wojciech Szczesny = 196cm (6' 5") although various sites have him between 195 and 198cm

I don't have stats for arm length or vertical leap capability.

Patters wrote:

He finished the season very strongly indeed. Just need him to be consistent throughout the season at roughly that level. He'll make some howlers - every keeper does. But his 'quality' is that he generally makes less mistakes than other 'keepers, and if you watched more of the 90 mins Hart and De Gea play, youd see that. The downside is that Szczesny doesnt make as many spectacular saves. he generally does what you expect from a keeper and a little more. But the Hart's are a but more erratic - but have more amazing eye-catching games which (rightly) elevates their reputations. Still, Szczesny saved us quite a few points at the last 1/3 of the season, and its a massive change previous keepers where we used to panic every time we conceded a corner.

It is odd that Szczesny turned out this way as i seem to remember him making spectacular saves as a youngster. Was it the 2 broken arm injuries he suffered, a few years back, that have limited his capability?

I think, the spectacular saves he made at Brentford were all after the broken arm incident.