Jose Mourinho stated in March that he would not attempt to veto the decision of Petr Cech to leave Chelsea at the end of the season, but he seemed to contradict himself as he confessed that he would keep the Czech Republic international against his wishes.

The 32-year-old was rumoured to be on the wish-list of Arsene Wenger and given his close associates with Roman Abramovich, it was believed that he would ply his trade with the Gunners next season despite them being city-nemeses.

However, it is now understood that the Blues, if not, Mourinho would not let him join their direct rivals.

Speaking to the press ahead of Liverpool fixture, the Chelsea manager admitted that he would not want to let go of his talisman, but insisted that his decision could not be the final one at the Stamford Bridge given the influence of the board room in transfer dealings.

The Portuguese manager went a bit too far as he claimed that he would not mind keeping hold of the goal-keeper against his will.

“One thing is José Mourinho and another is Roman Abramovich, and another thing is the board, because the board is a little bit of me and a little bit of other people,” Mourinho said. “If it was me, if it was my decision, the decision is Petr to stay. That’s it. It would be my decision for Petr to stay. Even against his will? Yes.”

Arsenal have been heavily linked with Cech ever since he lost his automatic starter status to Thibaut Courtois and the three-time Golden Glove winner even admitted in October that he would love to leave Chelsea. Even though it is believed that he would prefer a move to a Premier League outfit, Mourinho sounded coy over letting him stay in England at the end of his Chelsea career.

“For me, decision number one, Petr will stay. After that, second point, to go but not in England. The option I don’t want is for him to go to an English club. If the club decision is different to mine I will accept it.”

David Ospina has impressed since knocking Wojciech Szczesny off the perch keeping clean sheet after clean sheet and was deemed the best Premier League goal-keeper in terms of statistics by Metro and his understudy in the Polish shot-stopper seems to possess enough fuel in his engine to deputize in times of injuries to the former Nice keeper.

Besides two proven talents, Arsenal also have a promising talent in the shape of Emiliano Martinez, who is currently impressing on loan at Rotherham United and the Gunners may not need reinforcements to guard the goal this summer, but you never know.