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Last year, Liverpool fans were given an early Christmas gift in the form of a tenuous transfer connection to one of the EPL's top goalies. With Simon Mignolet unceremoniously benched and Brad Jones having taken place between the sticks, Liverpool looked like a club in need of a quality keeper going into the January transfer window, and Chelsea's Petr Cech's name was at the top of the list.
But Cech's own agent put the kibosh on any ideas that his client would be moving in January, and Liverpool's urgency to shore up the position looked even greater as Jones racked up multiple sketchy performances. While few would have anticipated the degree to which Mignolet would find form after Jones sustained an injury, there are still lingering doubts about Liverpool's depth in goal. Jones is rumoured to be signing a contract extension, and the news was met with much hand-wringing by Liverpool fans who feared that the extension was offered with a view to Jones continuing to deputize Mignolet.
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Whether it's merely coincidence or an agent putting out the feelers about his client's availability, the Cech-to-Liverpool rumour has once more popped up, at least according to the always reputable Daily Star. Cech is out of contract at Chelsea at the end of the 2015-16 season, and Thibaut Courtois' ascendancy has left Cech with little playing time and a lot of spare time in which to find a club that might be better able to use his services.
A player of Cech's quality would give Simon Mignolet the competition Liverpool fans feel is sorely lacking in Brad Jones, but it also re-introduces many of the same questions that were in play when Mignolet first arrived on Merseyside and Pepe Reina's future was in doubt. Cech will be 33 years-old by the time the summer transfer window opens, presumably he's considering leaving Chelsea in order to get more playing time rather than less. Then there are the Chelsea-level wages, which would be much too high if Cech is meant to only play a part-time role.
Signing Cech as an outright regular starter over Simon Mignolet would be harsh on the Belgian, who came back from a pretty dark place to become one of Liverpool's top performers this season, but it's hard to see him agreeing to a back-up role not dissimilar from the one he's already in. If anything can be taken from this rumour, though, it's that Liverpool sound as though they're in the market for a quality back-up keeper above and beyond what they have in Brad Jones.
