Petr Cech, Henrique Hilário and Ross Turnbull are united in seeking more reward for goalkeepers and in their focus on building on a Double-winning season

Petr Cech is on his high horse and he is urging it into a gallop. “It is the most stupid rule I have seen in my life,” the Chelsea goalkeeper says. “If somebody has a brain, they have to change it, it’s as simple as that. For me, it is ridiculous.”

The subject under discussion is the Premier League regulations on who can receive a title winner’s medal. The League stipulate that the prize will be awarded only if a player has made 10 appearances over the course of the season. It is, invariably, the champions’ back-up goalkeepers who feel short‑changed.

“Have a look at every club in the world,” Cech continues, “and try to find a second-choice goalkeeper playing more than 10 league games. You’re not going to find it. If you are the young sub, you can come on 10 times for 30 seconds and you get the medal but the goalkeeper plays one game and saves the game, wins the three points and he doesn’t get the medal. I think this is not

• The deal is under way, says owner of Brazilian club
• Portuguese international was born in São Paulo

The Brazilian club Fluminense claim they have agreed terms with Chelsea over a deal to sign Deco. The 32-year-old revealed several months ago that he was seeking a move back to the country of his birth, after spending 13 years in Europe.

“As Deco himself said, the deal is well under way,” said Celso Barros, the president of the group which owns Rio de Janeiro-based Fluminense. “It depends only on him being released by Chelsea and passing the medical tests, because the salary and length of contract have already been agreed.

“We will not talk this Wednesday, but in principle Deco will go to London to try to expedite his release from Chelsea. That done, he has asked Fluminense for at least a week to be with his children in Brazil and then he will report for medical tests and to start training.”

Deco developed his career in Europe after struggling to make the grade as a teenager in Brazil, and excelled for both Porto and Barcelona before moving to Stamford Bridge in 2008.

Born and raised in São Paulo, he represented Portugal after moving to the country and gaining citizenship. He retired from international football following their exit from this year’s World Cup.

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