Arsenal’s latest signing, Petr Cech, has spoken of how conversations with Tomas Rosicky and Arsene Wenger helped convince him that a move to a club considered an arch-rival to Chelsea was the best one for him.

Rosicky and Cech are both Czech internationals and he says he got the good word from Tommy about life at the Emirates Stadium.

“Yes, we have spoken,” he told Arsenal Player. “Obviously we had time together with the national team but at the time I did not know what would happen.

“But he seems happy always and he loves playing for Arsenal. He was excited about the idea that this could happen.

“He told me a lot of good things and he was one of the reasons why I decided to give it a go and meet with Arsenal. Then the discussions went on and here we are today! I am really happy it happened that way.”

And, of course, he met with Arsene Wenger who impressed him with his ambition for the club – ambition you might even say is evidenced by his decision to spend over £10m on a 33 year old goalkeeper.

“I had a good chat with him and it was the first time after the club approached me that I could speak to him in private for such a long time,” he said.

“He made me believe that this was the right step and that this is the club with a lot of ambition. I have a lot of personal motivation and ambition and the club definitely matches it.

“It is an exciting time for me, it is a project where Arsenal fans and the club have been waiting for the Premier League title and this is a chance for me to bring my experience and my little extra to the team and we can possibly achieve that.”

And with his debut potentially against his old club in the Community Shield on August 2nd, Cech says friendships will be left to one side for the duration of the game.

“During the year you can play against friends, you can play against big friends and close friends but once you are on the pitch, this friendship goes away and you just focus on winning the game.”