Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech announces retirement

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

The 36-year-old, who won four Premier League titles with Chelsea, revealed his decision on Twitter on Tuesday.

He wrote: “This is my 20th season as a professional player and it is 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.

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“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.”

In his 15 years in the Premier League, Cech has played 443 times, keeping a remarkable 202 cleansheets.

Cech joined Arsenal in 2015 and has made 129 appearances for the Gunners, helping them win the FA Cup in 2017.

However, despite captaining the club in Unai Emery’s first matches in charge this season, a hamstring injury in October opened the door for new signing Bernd Leno to take the gloves and Cech has been restricted to cup appearances since.

But it is his 11 trophy-laden years with Chelsea which he will be best remembered for as he established himself as one of the Premier League’s finest goalkeepers.

Signed from Rennes by Claudio Ranieri in 2004, Cech won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, the Champions League, the Europa League and three League Cups with the Blues.

It was a career all the more remarkable given the serious head injury Cech suffered in 2006 following a collision with Reading’s Stephen Hunt.

Hunt’s knee crashed into Cech’s head leaving him with a fractured skull, but he returned to action four months later wearing what became his trademark protective headgear.

The former Czech Republic international is his country’s most-capped player in history with 124 caps, and played at five major tournaments.

• With Press Association Sport