In the modern day, footballers need to be able to use their feet – but ex-Manchester United shot-stopper Luke Steele may have been the next evolution.
Initially, Steele was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson from Peterborough as a young, up and coming goalkeeper. After spending two loan spells at Coventry, he left United to join West Bromwich Albion where he was then, you guessed it, loaned to Coventry.
However, his career took a most unexpected turn when he dropped down into Sunday League football after being released by Nottingham Forest. The now 39-year-old was soon entrusted with scoring goals instead of keeping them out of the net. Surprisingly, he turned out to be pretty lethal.
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In an interview with the Daily Mirror in 2021, Steele said: "I wanted to continue playing football but just in a completely different light When I thought about playing lower leagues in goal, it just didn't give me that buzz. I've always loved playing outfield.
"When I was at Man Utd as a kid, I always played out from the back and it was one of my favourite parts of the job. At Barnsley and at different teams, we didn't play out a lot.
"It wasn't really a striker thing, it was more of a centre-midfield thing – I always played centre-midfield as a kid. I tried it out at Sunday league level last year and scored quite a few goals and different teams were asking me to play… to be honest I still think I'll end up in midfield or maybe defence."
What other goalkeepers also found themselves playing on pitch? Let us know in the comment section below
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"Last year I scored a lot of goals at Sunday league level. I know it's not a good standard, but I scored 18 in seven games!"
In 2021, Steele even found the net in the FA Cup when he popped up in the right place at the right time to score for Deeping Rangers. "Some of my friends who were professional footballers didn't score in the FA Cup," he added.
"I turned up on the bench, which I was disappointed about, but came on for the last 15 minutes and managed to score. To score a legitimate goal – not just a corner or penalty – is something that I didn't think I would do. But I have!"
In the summer of 2023, Steele's career took another completely left field move – to the dugout. He is now co-managing National League North side Peterborough Sports, dreaming of Wembley glory as he takes his side to National League outfit Dagenham & Redbridge in the FA Trophy next weekend.
It's a fascinating career for a player who played more than 250 Championship matches as a goalkeeper. However, with goalkeepers expected to have the distribution, vision and technique of a midfield player, there may be many more like Steele who will find themselves on pitch.
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