BREAKING: Petr Cech Announces Retirement

Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has announced that he will retire from football at the end of the season.

As he feels he has achieved everything he wanted “I feel like I have achieved everything I set out to achieve.”

Cech in his announcement on social media said: “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 the 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 for me off the pitch”.

A 17 year old Cech began his senior career at Chmel Blšany (Cezch Republic) in 1999, where he played for two seasons before moving to Sparta Prague in 2001.

At 19, Cech was already a first team regular, and his impressive campaign with the club earned him his first move abroad, joining Ligue 1 side Rennes in 2002.

Spending just two seasons in France, Cech made a move to Premier League side Chelsea for £7 million in 2004, where he made his name as one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

During his 11 years spell at Chelsea, Cech made 486 appearances for the club and won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, one UEFA Europa League title and one Champions League title.

The former Cezch international holds the club all-time record for clean sheets, with 220.

After 11 successful seasons at Chelsea, Cech left in 2015 to join city rivals Arsenal for a fee of £10 million.

He won another FA Cup and two FA Community Shields with Arsenal.

The 36-year-old holds a number of records in the Premier League, one of them being the fastest goalkeeper to reach a 100 clean sheets, doing so in 180 appearances.

He also has the most number of clean sheets in a season (24), as well as the record for most clean sheets in Premier League history (202).

Petr Cech is the only goalkeeper to have won the Premier League Golden Glove with two separate clubs, and has won it a joint record four times; (2004–05, 2009–10, 2013–14 and 2015–16).

He was given the award of Best Goalkeeper in three successive UEFA Champions League campaigns (2004–05, 2006–07 and 2007–08), and went 1,025 minutes without conceding a goal in 2004–05, (a Premier League record).

Cech will hope to win one last major trophy with Arsenal before clocking 37 in May. 

The Gunners still have a chance at silverware this season in the FA Cup and Europa League.