Petr Cech is capable of joining an elite club by playing Premier League football at 40 years of age, says Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
The vastly experienced goalkeeper made his competitive debut as a 17-year-old for Chmel Blsany back in October 1999 and has spent the last 13 years in England with Chelsea and the Gunners.
A four-time Premier League title winner and a man with 124 caps for the Czech Republic to his name is now 35 and very much in the veteran category.
Wenger, though, believes that Cech still has years left in him as a result of a perfectionist mentality that keeps him in the best possible shape.
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The Gunners boss sees no reason why he cannot remain at the top of his game for the foreseeable future and emulate the likes of Edwin van der Sar and Ryan Giggs.
“He gets older, we all do that,” the Arsenal manager told the club’s official website .
“But I think he is fitter than ever. He puts a lot of attention into the preparation. He is slimmer than before. I think he benefits from that.
“He has lost some weight. Not too much, two, three kilos only. But it’s a lot if you want to make a horse lose a race, you put a jockey with one or two kilos more on the back, and the horse is quite big.
“He looks after his whole lifestyle because he feels better and because he wants to be at the best. Petr Cech is a perfectionist. And you don’t make a career he has made if you have not that obsession, always to be at your best.
“I remember Edwin Van der Sar at Manchester United, I compare them. They are intelligent, they have great similar size, similar quality. And Van der Sar stopped at the end because he decided to stop. Because Manchester United wanted him to stay one more year longer. I don’t rule out [Cech playing until he is 40], but that will only be down to the performances.”
Cech has made 15 appearances for Arsenal this season, being an ever-present in their 2017-18 Premier League campaign.
He is currently tied to a contract at Emirates Stadium until the summer of 2019.
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