Former England international Rob Green has revealed the real reason he has a wonky finger following his playing career.
Green, 43, enjoyed a 20-year career in the professional game, where he had stints at West Ham United, Leeds United, Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea among other clubs.
The Surrey-born shot-stopper made 263 appearances in the top flight of English football, keeping 53 clean sheets in the process, before ultimately retiring from the professional game in 2019 after a short one-year stay at Stamford Bridge.
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Green has several accolades after calling an end to his playing career, including 12 caps for England, a PFA Team of the Year selection in 2004/05, a Championship title with Norwich City in 2003/04 and a play-off win with West Ham in 2012.
However, one of the strangest parting gifts he has from his career would be the long-term injury to his hand after years of abuse as a goalkeeper.
Speaking to Amazon on their official TikTok page, Green explained the reason behind his unusual finger and what caused it.
"The tales of goalkeeping! Don't be a goalkeeper kids," he joked.
"A long time of playing in goal, it got injured, dislocated and broken on numerous times and slowly started to die.
"It gave up essentially. It was when | started diving to my right and it started sticking in the ground. As I was diving I thought I might need to get seen to.
"Glove manufacturers very kindly made me sort of a paddle hand, which had the two main fingers and one larger finger, where I could tape it together and keep it relatively straight.
"So for the last ten years of my career I had a finger brace within my gloves to help me. I survived through the games. It's stayed that way ever since and now it's a nice icebreaker for conversations!"
Topics: Rob Green, England, Leeds United, QPR, Chelsea, Premier League, West Ham United, Football
Patrick Rowe