Petr Cech says that becoming a goalkeeper never entered his mind until he broke his leg while playing as a left midfielder

Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has revealed that he was on course to become a left winger before suffering a broken leg as a youngster. The 33-year-old, who joined the Gunners for £10m from London rivals Chelsea earlier this summer, has admitted he wasn't contemplating becoming a keeper until a freak accident at the age of 10. 'I never thought of being a goalkeeper,' Cech told Arsenal Magazine 'I was an ice hockey goalkeeper and when I started playing football, I was a midfielder or a left winger. 'Occasionally at the end of training sessions, when you had a free game with no 'keeper, where the deepest player acted as a goalkeeper, sometimes I went into goal because I wanted to see the difference between a big goal and a small ice hockey goal. 'My coach saw me a few times and one day, our goalkeeper didn't come for a game. We had no 'keeper and somebody had to play there, but nobody really wanted to. 'He pointed to me and said 'I've seen you a few times in goal and you've been doing quite well. You should try it. 'I said I would do it for one match and we ended up having a very good game. The next day, when I came for the training session, the goalkeeping coach took me and said that I should stay with him.' Cech's coach at the time ignored that advice though, that was until a year later when he suffered a 'career defining moment' in his words. He added: 'But then my coach didn't want to listen to that. For about a year, I was playing outfield or in goal depending on the opponents. 'Then when I was about 10 I broke my leg quite badly and the recovery took time. I couldn't run and I had pain for quite a long time. 'Being in goal means you can sit, you can lie, you can catch balls and you can still work and train. That made the biggest difference in my life because that moment defined that I stayed in goal.' Cech is in line to face his former club Chelsea in the Community Shield final at Wembley on Sunday, as Arsene Wenger's side eye a second consecutive success in the competition after easing past Manchester City in last year's final