During the early 2000's in the post-Peter Schmeichel days, we went through a rough patch in replacing the Great Dane, with one misfit after another guarding our goal with varying levels of success. But all that could have been avoided had we only snapped up a young Petr Cech during his early career at Rennes. Sir Alex Ferguson even watched the stopper play for the French club, but refused to press through with his interest and our search for a replacement for Schmeichel continued. Cech did end up in the Premier League eventually - upon being signed by Chelsea, where he has established himself as one of the world's greatest goalkeepers. The 31-year-old was named Chelsea Player of the Year in 2011 and has won three Premier League titles and a Champions League during his spell at Stamford Bridge.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
