Player Profile

They can be few players who have turned around their fortunes as much as Heurelho Gomes has done over the past 18 months.

The manager and supporters of Tottenham Hotspur had lost faith in his ability after a series of high-profile howlers made a mockery of his £7.8m transfer fee.

But the arrival of former Tottenham great Tony Parkes as a goalkeeping coach has seen the man they call ‘the Octopus’ emerge as one of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers.

He has won only a handful of caps since he made his debut for Brazil back in 2003. Dunga installed him as his number one when he first took over in 2006, but he was cast into the international wilderness for two-and-a-half years before rejoining the squad for last summer’s Confederations Cup.

He became known as ‘goleiro grande’ (the great goalkeeper) in Brazil, but remarkably did not play in goal until the age of 16, when it was the only available position at a tournament he competed in, which was played on sand.

He impressed to the extent that he was named Most Valuable Player of the championship and was given the opportunity to train at the Cruzeiro football school.

He made his name under Luiz Felipe Scolari, and credits the former Chelsea manager for giving him the confidence to move to Europe. When he did, he won the league title in each of the four years he spent at PSV Eindhoven and kept clean sheets in 60% of his 128 matches, the best record in the history of the Dutch league.

Born on a farm in a small town which had no electricity or school, his youngest brother Flavio tragically drowned in the family swimming pool aged two.