‘Unhappy’ Premier League footballer quits aged 26 for new career weeks on from trophy glory

Alfie Whiteman was part of the Tottenham Hotspur squad which won last season’s Europa League final against Manchester United to qualify for this season’s Champions League

Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman has retired from professional football. The 27-year-old made the decision at the end of last season when he was still just 26.

Whiteman was a member of Ange Postecoglou’s Europa League-winning squad, having been with the club from his youth team days before signing his first professional deal. During his time at Tottenham, he had two loan spells – both with Swedish side Degerfors – but never really looked like making any impact on the first team and found himself way down the pecking order regularly.

His lack of first-team football led him to explore other areas of life, including acting classes, broadcasting, and photography. The Athletic report that he expected to continue his footballing career when he was released by Spurs at the end of last season.

READ MORE: Arsenal’s Martin Zubimendi at the heart of tense row – ‘Relationship is very bad’READ MORE: Mark Clattenburg gives Liverpool verdict on penalty decision that angered Arne Slot

However, the shot-stopper called it a day on his own terms in the summer and is now taking up a career in photography – admitting that he was unhappy being a professional footballer.

He said: “I signed for Spurs at 10 years old. Then I left school at 16 and went straight into this full-time life of football.

“When I was around 17 or 18, living in digs, I just had this feeling inside of, ‘Is this it?’ Getting on the mini bus, going to training, doing the Sports Science BTEC and going home to play video games. I realised, ‘Oh, I’m not happy here’ from quite a young age.

“The stereotype of a footballer is generally quite true. It’s the golf, washbag culture.

“I was that young footballer. I wanted the Gucci washbag 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.”

Whiteman added: “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.”

Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.