Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes has revealed he didn't begin training properly as a shot-stopper until he was 19.

Gomes was 17 before he started a competitive game as a goalkeeper, standing in for a team who finished third in a state beach football tournament and catching the eye of scouts.

"My first formal goalkeeper training was at 19 when I signed for Cruzeiro," he told the Sunday Times. "From arriving at Cruzeiro to playing regularly for the first team took less than two years. During this period Luiz Felipe Scolari came to watch me practise and said to me, 'In two years' time you could be playing for any team in the world'. I started shaking when he told me that but what a boost to hear it from one of the best Brazilian coaches ever. It gave me the energy I was lacking."

None of his coaches had heard of a player coming so late to the specialist position so they worked Gomes hard.

"I had to make a great leap to catch up with the other guys. I used to go home knackered, couldn't even move properly," says the keeper in Portuguese. "Mentally and physically I always gave myself away to training. I had to be much more concentrated than the others, much more focused."