5 great footballers who played for clubs you didn't know about

#3 Gary Lineker (Nagoya Grampus Eight)

Lineker was considered to be one of the world’s best during his time

Gary Lineker began his career at his hometown club Leicester City as an 18-year-old and helped them secure promotion to the first division. Lineker scored 46 goals for the club from 1983 to 1985 and became one of the division’s most prolific scorers, forming a formidable partnership alongside Alan Smith.

A target for the bigger clubs in the league, Lineker eventually signed for Everton, who were the champions of the division at that time, for a fee of £800,000. He was an instant success at Merseyside and became the first division’s leading scorer with 30 goals.

He went on to play for Barcelona as well as Tottenham Hotspur and did justice to his goal-scoring record even though he failed to win any major trophies. In November 1991, Lineker signed for Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight in a £2m deal, a bizarre move considering that he had offers from Blackburn Rovers and Southampton in England. He spent two years in Japan before announcing his retirement in 1994.