‘Completely special’… Petr Cech says defender Chelsea sold for £7m was absolutely incredible

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Chelsea were a completely different team in the mid-2000s.

While it’s hard to believe now as the Blues languish in mid-table, the west London club were one of the most dominant teams the Premier League has ever seen under Jose Mourinho back in the day.

Chelsea had a very special group of players on their hands under Mourinho, and speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Petr Cech has been reminiscing about that period.

The Czech goalkeeper had plenty of praise for many of his former teammates, but he reserved special praise for one man in particular – Ricardo Carvalho.

The Portuguese defender was a special player, and Cech says that he was absolutely amazing to play with.

Carvalho was special

Cech spoke about the centre-back Chelsea eventually sold for £7m.

“With Carvalho at the beginning I have to say he was completely special. He looked like he was not even interested in anything. You were thinking was he switched on or not switched on, but I remember playing Man United, Wayne Rooney made a very interesting action with a completely disguised pass, and I was thinking ‘oh god.’ But Carvalho was just standing there and controlled the ball, and I thought ‘how did he read that’,” Cech said.

What a player

Ricardo Carvalho may well be one of the all-time great Premier League unsung heroes.

John Terry is usually the one who gets all of the credit when you talk about Chelsea and their remarkable defensive record around this time, but we mustn’t forget, Carvalho was incredible too.

He wasn’t the biggest, fastest or strongest, but he just had this immense footballing intelligence that allowed him to be two or three steps ahead of his opponents at all times.

Carvalho is an all-time Chelsea and Premier League great, and as Cech says, he’s one of the very best defenders we’ve ever seen in this country.