A man turned his love of customising football boot into his full-time job - and now works with Europe's top players including Thiago and Rüdiger.

Ryan Park, 32, rediscovered the hobby during lockdowns having enjoyed renovating football boots in his early 20s.

The investment banker would buy old pairs of boots on eBay then refurbish and share his transformations on his Instagram page Boots N Pieces.

By the end of 2020, Hibernian team captain and Scottish national team member, Paul Hanlon had reached out to Ryan with a customisation request of his own.

Before long, word had spread about Ryan's business - with players from across the Scottish Premier League and beyond reaching out.

After just a year and a half in business, Ryan left his 13-year career in investment banking to run Boots N Pieces full-time.

Top players regularly get in touch with Ryan - working with Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger and now former Liverpool player Thiago Alcântara.

Ryan, of Edinburgh, Scotland, said: ''During lockdown, I had a bit of time on my hands so I picked up an old hobby that I’d had when I was younger," said Ryan."

"I decided to start buying boots on eBay and refurbishing them, selling them on for a bit of profit."

"One day, I decided to start an Instagram page so I could show off before and afters of my work, and it really started gaining a lot of traction. "

"People started messaging me and asking for me to customize their boots and it just snowballed from there."

"It was a complete career change – I worked in investment banking for about 13 years. "

"I did quite enjoy my job, but during lockdown, I worked from home and had a lot more spare time and a passion was born. "

"It wasn’t a tough decision. I was really confident that it would work out and I was earning enough money from the boots part time to know that it was a sustainable business. "

"There was a bit of risk with not having a stable job – my fiancé was seven months pregnant with my daughter at the time, but I was really confident that it was going to work out, so I went for it."

"Through social media and word of mouth, I started getting a couple of pro footballers asking to get their boots done. "

"They spoke to their teammates and other guys in the SPL and down south, and it just spread like that. "

"The first top pro was Paul Hanlon at Hibs. He sent me a message on Instagram asking if I could do a stud conversion on his boots, and I went to meet him at his house to collect the boots and then drop them back off. "

"That whole experience was really crazy because that was the first time I’d ever done that."

"That was a starting point, and then I started doing them for other guys on the Hibs team, and then roundabout Scotland and further south as well."

Ryan, who has now been in business for nearly four years, has worked with top Scottish players including Lyndon Dykes and Ryan Christie - with the two requesting more than 30 pairs between them.

Top players from across the country regularly get in touch with Ryan through his website and Instagram - working with Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger and now former Liverpool player Thiago Alcântara.

His work has given him the opportunity to work alongside the Scottish national football and rugby teams, as well as scoring a deal with sportswear giant Under Armour.

"I often go out to training camps with the Scottish National team – they’re based in Glasgow so I’ll go out for a day or two just to do stud conversions on any boots that need it done. "

"Same with the rugby team, they’re based in Edinburgh, so I’ll go to their training camps as well before the Six Nations or the World Cup before they jet off."

"It’s almost four years that I’ve been doing this now, and it’s still surreal when top players get in touch. I’ve done a lot of top players – Thiago at Liverpool, Antonio Rüdiger at Real Madrid. "

"Lyndon Dykes and Ryan Christie are some of my most loyal customers, I’ve done about 30 pairs of boots for them."

"I’ve just started working with Under Armour, so I’m now customizing boots for their sponsored athletes, which is crazy because Under Armour is such a big company."

Now, Ryan hopes to hire help for his one-man team - and is planning on expanding his ventures into other sports.

"I definitely need to employ – hopefully this year. There’s only so many pairs of boots that I can do myself in a day, so I definitely need to expand. "

"Further down the line, I’d like to open some different locations and explore some different sports."

"I mainly do football and rugby at the minute, but I could easily do similar work with golf shoes or running shoes."