Football's ultimate recluses: England star who 'didn't like football' ...

In the modern age it is hard for elite footballers to go off-grid. Even when they retire.

There is the perpetual draw of social media, the temptations of brand deals, the invitations for punditry and co-commentary and autobiographies and after-dinner speeches. Step off the hamster wheel and you risk losing your status.

But some ex-players are perfectly happy to shun the limelight - even at the cost of their relationships.

They may have spent 20 years entertaining tens of thousands of people on a Saturday afternoon, but that doesn't mean they're attention seekers. Some are wallflowers.

With that in mind, we thought we'd explore some of football's ultimate recluses - men who quite literally disappeared, to the point where even their own team-mates couldn't find them.

David Batty

Former England star and Premier League winner David Batty retired in 2004 and hardly a soul has seen him since.

Good luck trying to nail him down for a coaching job, a spot of punditry, or an interview. People don't even know where he is.

Batty turned 57 last month and as the WhatsApp group of former Leeds players popped off with well-wishes, it became apparent that the birthday boy would never see them.

'I don't think anyone has seen him since we played together,' former team-mate Mark Viduka told the BBC.

'Everyone was wishing him happy birthday - but he's not even in the group!'

Batty was known as a reserved player and a family man who enjoys the simple pleasures of life. He's hardly been seen since hanging up his boots, though in 2011 he did lay a wreath on the pitch at Elland Road in memory of his late friend Gary Speed.

Mark Atkins, with whom he won the Premier League at Blackburn, told the BBC: 'We have tried to get him to the dos we have had, but nobody can get hold of him.

'He's not that type of person. Even if he was living five miles away, he wouldn't turn up because he's a very personal guy, really.'

His agent, Hayden Evans, added: 'It was clear from day one that he would never go into coaching, for example, and never seek that as a route back into football.

'David has been as good as his word, which is him through and through. He always said, "When I retire, that will be it. I won't have anything to do with the football industry."

'He's very happy in his life as he sits right now. He's doing all the things he wants to do and none of the things he doesn't want to do.'

Perhaps it's no surprise that Batty is shunnng the football world - Alan Shearer once revealed he wasn't sure the midfield hard man even liked the beautiful game.

'I always got the impression that he didn't really love football,' he said.

'You could never accuse him of not giving his all, he always did. He was last into training and first away. He used to turn up in his training kit, sometimes he didn't have a shower afterwards, he would jump in his car and be away.'

Jason Koumas

Jason Koumas had oodles of natural talent and built a respectable Premier League career. Now his son Lewis has aspirations at Liverpool - but you won't see his dad around too much.

The former Wigan, West Brom, and Wales star was actually in Liverpool's academy with Steven Gerrard, but was rather more shy and didn't bag as many headlines.

In 2015, he retired after his second stint at Tranmere Rovers and pretty much vanished from football, though he still lives on Merseyside near two giants of the game.

The Athletic managed to get hold of him last year and he initially seemed interested in talking but that quickly fizzled out.

'He never felt like he wanted to be around a lot of people, he just wanted to be himself and chill with his family and his close friends,' Paul Robinson, Koumas' former team-mate at West Brom, told The Athletic.

'He was a really nice guy and a top, top player, but some people want their own private lives and they want to stay private.

'If we went out as a group, he would come for a couple of drinks but then just shoot off. He wasn’t one who would spend a lot of time out. He was a Liverpool lad and he spent a lot of time with his friends and family where he was from, which is understandable.

'When he came out with us as a team, Koumy was always someone that people would pester just because of the quality player he was. And he wouldn’t want that. He just likes being by himself, relaxing and switching off.'

Joe Murphy, who knew Koumas as a youngster at Tranmere, added: 'He keeps himself to himself and keeps his friends close. He’s always been the same regarding interviews. It’s always been tough to get hold of, Jase. When you get a player of that talent the media always want to speak to them and he just wanted to do his talking on the pitch. He was always like that.

'We have kind of drifted a bit. We’re still in contact a bit on WhatsApp but I haven’t really seen him in person much.

'It’s only been a handful of times over the last five or six years, which is a bit crazy, but we all have our own lives.

'Jase is a laidback guy who keeps himself to himself. At West Brom was the best talent we had in that team for the first couple of years so the spotlight was on him and Jase isn’t one for spotlights.'

Mark Viduka

He scored 83 Premier League goals and once bagged four against Liverpool, but Mark Viduka was happy to abandon the limelight when he hung up his boots in 2009.

And so one of the best Australian footballers ever sought out an environment and career that would allow him to leave in peace, and he decided on opening a coffee house in the foothills of Zagreb, Croatia.

He didn't give a newspaper interview until 2021, when Daily Mail Sport's indefatigable reporter Craig Hope managed to track him down. He didn't particularly want to be found but was happy to speak.

'The amount of people I meet who say, “You’re not what I expected”. I often wonder, “Why?”' he said.

‘I wasn’t obsessed with fame, at all. I didn’t like it. I still don’t. I wasn’t obsessed with money, that came as a by-product.

‘You’ve seen what football is like, a lot of a**e-lickers and climbers, dishonest people who try to shaft you. But I always tried to stay true to myself.

‘I left Australia to sign for Croatia Zagreb aged 19 and fell in love with the lifestyle. And we’d always wanted to run a cafe, for fun really, one where everyone was welcome. So here we are.

‘Listen, my missus does all the work, I just sit here and drink coffee!’

Viduka is still happy to have a chinwag about the football, even if he has retreated into the shadows.

Remembering his four-goal demolition of Liverpool at Elland Road in November 2000, he said: ‘I didn’t play that well. Some bad touches, poor hold-up play, that stays in your mind.

'I had four shots that day, scored four goals. How often does that happen?’

Steve Finnan

Steve Finnan is an unsung hero of Rafa Benitez's Liverpool but he will always have that Champions League triumph in 2005 to show for his efforts.

The Irishman was rejected by Wimbledon and Crystal Palace in his youth and ended up playing for Welling United in non-league, seriously contemplating quitting and being a bricklayer in his family business.

He clearly had fierce determination because he did not give up on his dream. Yet steely though he may have been, the full-back was known for being understated as a character.

He retired after Portsmouth's FA Cup final defeat by Chelsea in 2010 and then unplugged from the football industry.

In 2015, a reunion was planned to celebrate the Miracle of Istanbul with Liverpool's heroes but the organisers couldn't locate Finnan.

A #FindSteveFinnan hashtag trended on X (then Twitter) and it took a Liverpool Echo investigation to find him. Finnan had been working on his property business with his brother.

'I can confirm that I’m safe and well', he said upon being found. 'There are people at the club who have got my number but obviously this isn’t a club event so there was a bit of a mix-up. The organisers of the Istanbul Reunion have now been in touch and apologised they weren’t able to contact me sooner.

'I think one of the reasons why people think I’ve disappeared is because I’m not involved in football any more. I loved training and playing, and I was privileged to play for a great club like Liverpool and win some big trophies, but I never wanted to stay in football once I had retired.

'Being a coach or a pundit never interested me. When you don’t stay involved, people forget about you. They go from seeing you most weeks to never seeing you.

'I’ve never been one to crave attention and I like my life the way it is now. I’m also not on social media. I don’t feel the need to tell someone what I’ve just had for my breakfast.

'Unfortunately I’ll be away for the Istanbul reunion which is a shame. If I’d known a few months ago I’d have been there as I would have loved to meet up with all my team-mates and see the fans again. I hope they all have an amazing night. Being part of what happened in Istanbul was the greatest achievement of my career.'

As of November, Finnan was facing a bankruptcy battle following a multi-million pound row with his brother.