Premier League goalkeeper retires at 26 after rejecting Championship club and embarks on new career

Making it as a Premier League football player and winning a European medal is the stuff of dreams come true for millions of young hopefuls.

Living out your dream, plus the money and profile that it brings, is all most players want to achieve in their careers, but life as a professional footballer does not necessarily suit everyone.

That’s certainly the case for one former Tottenham Hotspur star, who has ended a 17-year association with the club in favour of pastures new.

Former Spurs goalkeeper announces his retirement

Alfie Whiteman joined the Spurs academy as a ten-year-old and would work his way through the club’s youth ranks, signing a three-year deal with the club in 2019. A first-team debut came in November 2020, when he replaced Joe Hart for the closing stages of a Europa League match against Ludogorets Razgrad.

That would prove to be his only senior appearance for Spurs, but the home-grown 27-year-old was a part of the club’s Europa League-winning squad last season, earning himself a winners’ medal following the victory over Manchester United in the final.

That would, however, prove to be his final act for the club, as he departed at the end of his contract in the summer. But rather than seek out a new club, amid reported interest from Championship sides, Whiteman has opted for a career change.

He has now announced that he is working as a director and photographer, signing with production company Somesuch. This comes after he has hosted a monthly radio show on NTS, while for the former stopper also has a popular profile on film-review app Letterboxd.

“The stereotype of a footballer is generally quite true. It’s the golf, wash-bag culture,” he told The Athletic when speaking about his change of course.

“I was that young footballer. I wanted the Gucci wash bag and I drove the Mercedes. You all just become a reflection of each other. You’re a product of your environment.

“It’s the way football is in this country; it’s so shut off from anything else. You go to training and then you go home, that’s it. I guess I always felt a little bit different. My teammates – who I got on well with – called me a hippie. That was their definition.

“But then, when I was 18, I met my ex-girlfriend, who was a model. She was a bit older than me. Her best friend was a director. It just started opening my eyes to what life has to offer. So, as I was getting a bit older around 18 or 19, I started meeting new people and realising a bit more about myself, and understanding the football bubble, because it’s so insular.

“Football is a short career regardless, even if you do really well, and I knew that I didn’t want to stay in it. It was about trying to gain experience and be proactive in learning about these things I was also interested in, but mainly because I was enjoying it, and was surrounded by the kinds of people that were doing what I enjoyed as a job.

“They were making things. It was really inspiring.”