Shoot! would like to wish former Brazil international goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes many happy returns as the Watford star celebrates his 36th birthday today!

The shot stopper first arrived in the Premier League back in June 2008 following his reported £7.8m switch to Tottenham Hotspur from Eredivisie outfit PSV Eindhoven.

The 36-year-old, who represented his country 11 times between 2003 and 2010, has kept four clean sheets in 26 appearances in all competitions for The Hornets so far this season – with Walter Mazzarri’s men currently 13th in the top-flight standings following Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Gomes began his career in his homeland with Cruzeiro, before being scouted in July 2004 by Dutch side PSV.

He went onto make 135 appearances for Spurs between 2008 and 2014, whilst being loaned out to Hoffenheim (2013), before joining Watford back in May 2014, helping The Hornets win promotion back to the ‘Promised Land’.

To honour Gomes’ latest milestone, Shoot! has dug up five facts you may not know about Watford’s number one…

Wild celebrations

Gomes is fondly remembered in the Eredivisie for injuring himself whilst celebrating a goal.

His team’s effort. Not a strike from the opposition!

The Brazilian crocked himself whilst celebrating Phillip Cocu’s goal away at Feyenoord, which eventually earned PSV a draw.

Samba star

Watford’s Gomes was part of the Brazil squad that competed at the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.

However; the shot stopper didn’t make an appearance, instead he was left on the substitute’s bench for all five fixtures as former Queens Park Rangers ‘keeper Julio Cesar deputised between the sticks, until Brazil were knocked out by the Netherlands (2-1) in the quarter-finals.

Second best

Gomes was rated as the second best goalkeeper in the Premier League, according to Opta, during the 2009-10 season.

The Brazilian recorded 17 clean sheets in 42 appearances in all competitions for Tottenham, as Harry Redknapp’s Spurs finished fourth in the Premier League, reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

Heurelho ‘Octopus’ Gomes

Gomes was nicknamed the ‘Octopus’ in the Netherlands, because of his elastic reach, during his PSV days.

He is recognised as a cult hero at the Philips Stadion, after winning four successive Eredivisie league titles (2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08).

Goal scorer to Goal stopper

During his childhood, Gomes used to play up front for his school team.

At the age of 14, at Teotonio Brandao Vilela secondary school, the Watford shot stopper played as a forward.

It wasn’t until his move to local side Sete Lagoas, after a growth spurt, that Gomes was instructed to protect his side’s goalposts, rather than attack them at the other end of the pitch.

The rest, they say, is history.