"He played men's football in Austria, which went really well for him, then he came back to England with Bristol City and did well there."
16:13, 07 May 2026
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Manchester United goalkeeper Radek Vitek won three Player of the Season awards at Ashton Gate(Image: Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
Chelsea legend and former Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Cech has stressed that "it's important to play," while discussing countryman Radek Vitek's future beyond the end of his loan spell at Bristol City.
Vitek has spent the 2025/26 campaign at Ashton Gate on a temporary basis, having joined the Robins on loan from Manchester United last July. In what was a middling season for the Reds, the 22-year-old stopper was the stand-out under both Roy Hodgson and Gerhard Struber.
On his way to winning City's Players' Player, Young Player and fan-voted Player of the Season awards, the Red Devils loanee made 41 Championship appearances and kept 12 clean sheets to help the Reds to a 12th-place finish in England's second tier.
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With his contract at Old Trafford running until 2028, what comes next for Vitek is - by his own admission - not yet clear. The goalkeeper has, however, made his desire to continue to play regular first-team football clear, something Cech has echoed while discussing the youngster's prospects.
In an interview with BBC Sport's Simon Stone, the former Chelsea and Arsenal stopper said, "It's important to play. Of course, there are situations where sometimes you know that you have a big chance to come back and fight for your position. That's a different thing.
"But as it stands at United, Lammens has done really well. I'm sure he [Vitek] will want to go somewhere and continue playing.
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"It's great to see him progress," Cech added. "Because playing for the Under-21s with United is one thing, but then he played men's football in Austria, which went really well for him, then he came back to England with Bristol City and did well there.
"That obviously gives him an opportunity to attract attention even from teams in the Premier League. I met him a couple of years ago, when we had a training session and talked about things. I could see he's got the hunger and the willingness to get better."
Vitek signed his current deal at Old Trafford upon his temporary switch to the West Country. The 22-year-old made the move prior to United's signing of Senne Lammens, who has impressed as the Red Devils have secured Champions League football under the interim management of Michael Carrick.
Naturally, given his impressive performances between the posts for City this term, Robins supporters are keen to see Vitek return to Ashton Gate again next term. As he accepted his various awards following the final whistle of last weekend's win over Stoke City, chants of 'One more year, one more year Radek Vitek' were audible.
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United are the party in the "driver's seat" - as Struber put it prior to his sacking - regarding the goalkeeper's future. The 22-year-old will, of course, discuss his next steps with his representatives and the Premier League giants, but did admit last week that the clash with Stoke could prove to be his last outing as a City player in front of the Reds faithful.
Should, as seems likely, Vitek not return to south Bristol this summer, a new goalkeeper will almost certainly have to be at the top of the Robins' shopping list.
Currently, Joe Lumley is the only senior stopper on the club's books following the January sale of Max O'Leary, while they also hold the option to extend third-choice goalkeeper Lewis Thomas' contract by an additional year.
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OPINION
Author avatarDaniel Carter