Arsene Wenger has backed Petr Cech to emulate Edwin van der Sar and turn Arsenal into Premier League champions.
Dutch keeper van der Sar was 34 when he joined Manchester United ten years ago and helped them win four titles and the Champions League.
Cech is 33, is also still a world class keeper and Wenger believes he can have the same effect on Arsenal by bringing experience to the Emirates.
Gunners boss Wenger said: “His move is a bit like Van der Sar. He went from Fulham to Man United but still had five or six years at Manchester United so I don’t see why he shouldn’t have a few more years.
“He’s very serious, he trains well, has no big problems. He has an intimidating presence, that is for sure. He makes the goals look small. That’s the kind of charisma he has. He is a big size.
“He has a good combination between quality, agility, size, he looked like he was built for English football. I think he is a very bright goalkeeper as well.”
Van der Sar was a surprise signing for United when he moved from Craven Cottage largely because of his age and the fact Sir Alex Ferguson had tried and failed to sign him before.
But van der Sar established himself as an Old Trafford legend after becoming their No1 after a succession of aborted attempts and dodgy keepers - most notably Massimo Taibi - to replace Peter Schmeichel.
Arsenal’s own problems are very similar. Their last two title-winning keepers were Jens Lehmann from the Invincibles season and David Seaman won two Doubles in 1998 and 2002.
Wenger has had some dodgy keepers since those days and his biggest regret is that he wasn’t able to sign Cech sooner.
In pictures - Arsenal's first-team photocall
In fact, Wenger admitted he tried to sign him before he moved to Chelsea from French club Rennes in 2004.
“The first time (we tried to sign him) was before he went to Chelsea,” admitted Wenger. “We were interested as the guy who brought him to Chelsea is a good friend of mine.
“He was very young when he went to Rennes. One of my assistants, Boro Primorac, his son was a player in Rennes and he said they had a very good goalkeeper. So we knew.
“I think Chelsea were a bit quicker than us but there was a bit of a work permit issue.”
The Cech deal has only increased Arsenal’s confidence - and the expectation among the fans - that they can now compete with champions Chelsea.
After all, Arsenal’s weak link has often been seen as the keeper and now they have an experienced No1 who has helped Chelsea win four titles during 11 glorious years at Stamford Bridge.
Wenger has not won the title since 2004 but this is surely their best chance since the Invincibles and the Arsenal manager believes they can topple Chelsea.
“It’s certainly the most experienced squad since 2004,” said Wenger. “There is better balance between talent and experience. We always talented teams. But when you go into April you need some experience.
“The expectations are very high and that is understandable because you cannot win the cup and finish third in the league and then say ‘look, next year we want to do nothing.’
“People expect a lot from us and it is the first time for a long time we have all had confidence in our environment.”
However, Wenger will need to end his dreadful run against bitter managerial rival Jose Mourinho. It’s now 13 games for Wenger without a win against Mourinho’s Chelsea.
The verbal jousting has already begun with Wenger questioning Arsenal’s spending power. Wenger believes the media is in “love” with Mourinho. Amusingly, Mourinho always thinks the media is on Wenger’s side.
It’s always about perception, isn’t it Arsene? “It’s all about love,” laughed the Arsenal manager. “I will leave you and your love story with him to continue without interference.”