Jose Mourinho believes Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech would have chosen to bow out in a game against Chelsea and will be determined to beat his old club in the Europa League final, despite being linked with a return to Stamford Bridge.
Cech, 37, has already confirmed he will retire after next week’s final against the Blues, where the Czech will hope to feature having played the majority of the Gunners’ Europa League matches this term.
Reports have suggested Cech has already agreed to become Chelsea’s sporting director for next season, though the player himself denied that is the case on social media.
Yet even if a return to west London is on the cards after the final, his former Chelsea boss Mourinho is confident there will be no split loyalties in Baku.
“It is Petr Cech’s last football match – I think it’s the match that he would choose,” Mourinho told Sky Sports News.
“If he could choose a match to retire, I think this would be the match.
“It looks like he goes home next season – home [is] Chelsea.
Despite the news today as I had already said to everybody before , I’ll make decision about my future after the last game . Now my sole focus is to win the EL with @Arsenal .
— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) May 21, 2019
“I think of course he would love to do it in a winning way because he’s a winner, he won so many things.”
Cech has had to be content with a backup role at Arsenal this season behind Bernd Leno, who signed for the club from Bayer Leverkusen last summer.
The veteran goalkeeper has, however, still managed to rack up 20 appearances across all competitions and could add a final piece of silverware to his impressive collection on May 29.
The Gunners must beat Chelsea to qualify for next season’s Champions League, having only managed a fifth-place Premier League finish.
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