From his Dutch roots and a striker-to-goalkeeper switch during his younger years to embracing the Barcelona city lifestyle, the Barça keeper is a bag of surprises.

1. He actually started out as a striker
Ter Stegen grew up in Mönchengladbach in the west of Germany and was signed up for local side Borussia Mönchengladbach by his grandfather aged just four. But interestingly enough, he started out playing as a striker for his first youth teams before taking over from an injured goalkeeper as a 10-year-old. He never looked back and has played as a keeper, to great success, ever since!