Leeds United’s Chris Wood has been speaking about his time playing in a very different position during his youth.
It’s hard to imagine, after the excellent season he’s had so far up-front for Leeds United, that Chris Wood could have ever thought about playing any other position on the pitch other than as a striker. The big New Zealand front-man, who has scored 18 goals in 28 appearances for Leeds this season, and recently picked up the Championship Player of the Month award for January.
However, in a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Chris Wood mentioned that leading the line hasn’t always been his position, and that he once played as a goalkeeper in his youth.
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Speaking to the Mail‘s Craig Hope, Wood said:
‘Goalkeepers are weird. No one knows this but I was a keeper when I was 13. I got stuck there one game, kept a clean sheet and liked it.’
‘I was tall and knew where strikers would shoot. But I soon realised they are a strange bunch. It wasn’t for me.’
Leeds United’s Chris Wood
And it’s a good thing he changed his mind too, otherwise Leeds United might not have the big striker who has been so pivotal to their impressive promotion push this season. It could be suggested as well that Wood’s time as a goalkeeper in his youth may well have contributed to him becoming the type of centre-forward he is. Perhaps Wood understands the thinking of goalkeepers better than other strikers, due to his time playing in that position.
At least Leeds United fans know that, should the freak situation occur where their goalkeeper is injured and there’s no available substitute, they’ve got a pair of safe hands already on the field in Chris Wood!
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