Another legend of the Champions League-winning generation with Chelsea in 2012 will leave the pitch. Petr Cech announced on Tuesday that he will hang his gloves at the end of the season when he ends his contract with Arsenal.
“This is my 20th season as a professional player and it has been 20 years since I signed my first professional contract, so it feels like the right time to announce that I will retire at the end of this season. Having played 15 years in the Premier League, and won every single trophy possible, I feel like I have achieved everything I set out to achieve. I will continue to work hard at Arsenal to hopefully win one more trophy this season, then I am looking forward to seeing what life holds me off the pitch,” he said on his Twitter account.
He will finish his career at 37, 20 of them professional, 15 of them at Queen’s Land. There, he won four times the Premier League (2004-05, 2005-06, 2009-10 and 2014-15) with Chelsea. For the Blues, he still won the Champions League in 2011-12.
Throughout the 15 years in England, he leaves the scene as the goalkeeper who spent more matches without conceding goals in the Premier League. There were 202 clean sheet games (out of a total of 443), surpassing the 169 of David James, the second on the list.
Cech started his career at Chmel Blsany and went through Sparta Prague before arriving in Rennes. He was hired in 2004 by Chelsea to shine alongside names like Lampard, Terry, Drogba, and company. With no space with the arrival of Courtois, he moved to Arsenal in 2015.
As Cech said himself, nobody knows what the future outside the pitch will bring to him. All we know right now is that we will miss seeing this great goalkeeper playing next year. Another great player that we are not having in the world of football anymore.