Cech ready to sign new Chelsea deal - Sport - Evening Standard
       

Cech ready to sign new Chelsea deal

Petr Cech wants to commit his long-term future to Chelsea and will begin talks with the club over a new contract after the Champions League Final next week.

Cech has established himself as arguably the best keeper in Europe since he joined Chelsea for £7million from Rennes in 2004.

The Czech international, who is believed to be earning around £70,000 a week, is wanted by a host of clubs across the continent, but is keen to stay at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are happy to open negotiations with the 25-year-old and his agent Pavel Zika, and are ready to offer him a rise of about £20,000 a week to secure his signature, which will bring him in line with other top earners at the club.

A source close to the keeper told Standard Sport: "We will be talking about Petr's contract with Chelsea after the Champions League Final. He is happy at Chelsea and sees his long-term future there."

He only has two years left on his current contract, but the club will offer him a two-year extension that will keep him at the club until 2012.

The move to secure him on a new contract is further evidence of Chelsea's willingness to take care of business ahead of next season as soon as possible. They have already secured their first signing of the summer with the £16.2m acquisition of Jose Bosingwa from Porto.

Bosingwa, who agreed a three-year contract worth £50,000 a week, is set to replace his Portugal international team-mate Paulo Ferreira as Chelsea's first choice right-back next season. He said: "Chelsea is my destiny and it is a club where I can improve as a player."

Meanwhile, Didier Drogba admitted yesterday that complacency had cost Chelsea the League title to Manchester United.

The two points his team conceded to Bolton on Sunday brought the number lost in the final moments at Stamford Bridge to eight.

Drogba, who confirmed he would be fit from a knee injury for the Champions League Final, said: "That is enormous, far too many to claim to be champions.

"It certainly shows an excess of self-satisfaction, a lack of concentration."

Comments

Don't Miss
The Glamour Awards - stars turn on the style

Glamour Awards

Stars turn on the style
Duchess of Cambridge is pretty in pink at her first Buckingham Palace garden party

Garden party

Duchess of Cambridge is pretty in pink
FIRST review of Ridley Scott's latest sci-fi blockbuster Prometheus

First review

Is Ridley Scott's Prometheus any good?
Fair-weather goths

Fair-weather goths

The sultry shades of summer darks are coming out of the shadows
London gets ready for the Diamond Jubilee - in pictures

Diamond Jubilee

London gets ready - in pictures
Dog save the Queen: Corgis surge in popularity

Dog save the Queen

Corgis surge in popularity
'He’s a better ex than he was a husband', says Boris Johnson's ex wife

A better ex than husband

We talk to Boris Johnson's ex wife
TV Baftas - in pictures

Best of the Baftas

Stars on the red, white and blue carpet
You big softie: Has Giles Coren put down his poison pen?

You big softie

Has Giles Coren put down his poison pen?
Pop star Paloma Faith, former Labour minister and Tory blogger back gay marriage video

Gay marriage

Pop star, former Labour minister and Tory blogger back gay marriage video