Having spent 20 years in professional football, Julian Speroni has enjoyed quite the career.
And with a decade and a half of that career spent with Crystal Palace, south Londoners can certainly be grateful that their Argentine No.1 entered the profession and ultimately gave his service to the red and blue of SE25.
But things might not have always ended up that way. Were it not for two unique events in the shot-stopper’s life, Speroni may never have entered football - or, at least later, European football - at all.
Speaking with the official Palace programme, Manos De Dios revealed that there once was a time he came close to turning his back on the sport entirely.