How would you like to be paid shedloads for doing very little? Well, become a Premier League goalkeeper.

Whatever you do, don’t become the first choice. You’ll have to work very hard and take a lot of pressure – it’s not worth it. Just take the advice of some of the ‘back-up’ goalkeepers at England’s top clubs.

First to Liverpool, where Brad Jones has been rotting for the last four years. In that time Jones has made just eight Premier League appearances for the Reds, of which zero have been within the last two years. After making almost 60 league appearances for Middlesborough, Liverpool signed Jones for £2.3million in 2010. The 32-year-old is still under a long-term deal with Liverpool and happily sits on the bench each week. Ironically Jones is the number one in terms of squad numbers.

Jones’ mentor at Middlesborough was Mark Schwarzer, who is now at Chelsea, where he has been since last season. Fellow Aussie Mark has made 508 Premier League appearances during his lengthy career with Middlesborough and Fulham, putting him 8th in the all-time Premier League appearance list. However, the 42-year-old obviously knew that he had had enough of hard work and so he joined Chelsea.

Schwarzer made four top-flight appearances for Chelsea last season, stepping in for Petr Cech. But this season the Blues have two world class goalkeepers battling for the position. Mark is now permanently behind both Cech and Thibaut Courtois but, instead of retiring at the end of his career, Mark still enjoys a payday for doing very little.

Don’t forget about Richard Wright – oh, you already did? Well, the ex-England international hasn’t made an appearance since November 2011. Following a trial with Colchester United, Wright signed for Manchester City – yes, really. It may have only been a one-year deal but after making zero appearances for the current Premier League champions, he was awarded with a one-year extension. He was behind Joe Hart and Costel Pantilimon when he first arrived at the Etihad and now he is behind both Hart and new-signing Willy Cabellero. There is literally no chance of Wright ever making a first-team appearance for City – and yet they’re still paying him some sort of wage. What a life for Richard, who has made just two league appearances since 2010.

Only using these three as the top example, do they simply not want to play football anymore? I don’t blame them for signing new deals when offered to be given a fantastic living for zero effort – that’s the ideal isn’t it?

At least Brad Jones is second choice at Liverpool, although he is a distant second and with Liverpool rumoured to be interested in signing another goalkeeper to push Simon Mignolet for the top spot, meaning Jones is obviously not considered a genuine option.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Schwarzer and Jones could cut it in the Premier League, or at least in the Championship for sure. The opportunity for first-team football is there, but their desire to play has appears be non-existent. They would likely earn less money if they dropped out of the Premier League, but surely they worked hard to become a professional footballer for other reasons than the money?

Schwarzer has had a fantastic career, there’s no denying that, and he must now be content with all he has achieved. Brad Jones, in comparison, is relatively young – if he has the same length of career as Schwarzer, he has another 10 years left. He should be trying to achieve more than he has, which won’t happen at Liverpool. Perhaps when he is no longer the second-choice he may decide to find another path. Only time will tell but, it may only be in January. Jones missed out on the Australia national squad for the 2014 World Cup and he must be gutted to have missed that opportunity having not played enough to warrant selection – after all, he was beaten to a place by Adelaide United’s goalkeeper who is only a year older than Jones.

Manchester City have so much money that they have a player of inferior quality on their books who will never make an appearance. Richard Wright may as well make as much as he can out of them.

They may be wasting years of their careers but that’s the enigma of being a goalkeeper who isn’t first choice. Can we blame them for making tons for doing nothing? After all, we’d all love to do the same – wouldn’t we?

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