The son of a Premier League legend looks completely different after retiring from football at just 25.
The son of a former Chelsea and Spurs star looks like a completely different person just six years after retiring from football.
Many footballers change how they look after they stop playing – whether it’s from not training as hard or just getting older. But Diego Poyet, son of Gus Poyet, has taken this change to another level.
Gus, Diego’s dad, had a great career playing for Premier League teams Tottenham and Chelsea. He also managed teams like Brighton and Sunderland, and worked with clubs around the world.
Gus is from Uruguay and has two kids, Matias and Diego. Like his dad, Diego became a professional footballer. He came up through Charlton Athletic’s academy and made his first team debut in 2013. The next season, he played 20 games in the Championship before moving to West Ham United in 2014.
However, Diego found it tough settling at West Ham and only played five times in the 2014/15 season. In 2016, he left the club by mutual agreement. Diego played just 10 games for West Ham, though he also had loan spells at Huddersfield Town, Milton Keynes Dons, and Charlton.
By 2017, Diego signed with Argentinian club Godoy Cruz but left after just three games. He later called his time in Argentina a “nightmare” in a Sky Sports interview. He explained the league only allows four foreign players per team, and although the club already had four, they expected one striker to leave. But that striker failed his medical test and stayed, so Diego became the fifth foreign player and couldn’t play in the league – only in the Copa Libertadores.
He said, “It was the worst time of my life. I lived alone, trained every week, but for six months I could only wait to play in the Copa Libertadores. When the games came, the manager wasn’t sure about playing me because I hadn’t played for months and wasn’t match fit. I struggled on and off the pitch, and being away from home for the first time made it really tough.”
A year later, Diego played in Cyprus for Pafos, but, like before, it didn’t work out. By 2020, at just 25 years old, Diego decided to end his professional football career.
Now, six years later at 31, Diego looks completely different. He has a muscular build and a shaved head, compared to before when he was slim with long hair.
In 2023, Gus talked about his son’s strict gym routine: “From what I know, because I’m not an expert, he’s 100% committed to everything he does. For example, we went to dinner once and while others had beer or wine, he didn’t touch any alcohol – never. We had several desserts too, which I love, but he didn’t eat a single bite. His approach is all or nothing. He knows when to bulk up, when to slim down, and how to eat properly. He’s fully dedicated.”