5 legends who retired in the 2018/19 season

#2 Petr Cech

Petr Cech will go down as one of the Premier League's greatest ever goalkeepers

Of the five players on this list, Petr Cech is the only one who may yet play one last game. There’s a chance the Arsenal goalkeeper may appear in their Europa League final against his former club Chelsea, but that feels unlikely given that Cech is reportedly about to make his way back to Stamford Bridge in a technical role when he hangs up his gloves in the summer.

Regardless of his role in the future, Cech will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest goalkeepers in Premier League history. Signed by then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2004 for a fee of £7 million – the Czech international immediately broke records by keeping an unbelievable 24 clean sheets across the season in a Blues side that conceded just 15 goals.

Cech went on to win the Premier League title that season and then repeated the feat a further 3 times while at Stamford Bridge, also winning the FA Cup on 4 occasions, the EFL Cup on 3 occasions and in 2011/12, the Champions League. The final of that competition – against Bayern Munich - saw Cech save a penalty from Arjen Robben in normal time and another 2 penalties in the eventual shootout that saw Chelsea triumph.

After the emergence of Thibault Courtois at Chelsea, Cech moved to Arsenal in 2015 and immediately became their first choice keeper, too. Trophies were harder to come by for Cech at the Emirates but he still managed to pick up one more FA Cup in 2016/17 – coincidentally by beating Chelsea in the final.

Despite a less successful end to his career, though, he’ll definitely go down as one of the all-time great goalkeepers – one who was dependable until the very end.