Once hailed as one of the top goalkeepers in the world, Bosnich fell from grace after a drugs scandal ended his career with clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea.

He binged on coke and booze - but has now tried to revive his career in the reserves of UK Championship club Queens Park Rangers.

Now he has set his sights on getting into the big time once more.

"The majority of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League and the Championship are older goalkeepers, with the exception of Peter Cech," Bosnich told Fox Sports' Total Football.

"And the ones who are performing week in week out consistently are people like Edwin Van Der Sar and David James. People like that are all around my age, so age is no barrier.

"If I can get back to anywhere near the shape I was in, then I'm confident I can play in any league.”

Bosnich decided to make a bid to get back into the game after finally realising how far he'd allowed himself to slide.

"I woke up and I was sick of the way I was living," he said.

"Sometimes you don't miss something or you don't know how much you are going to miss something until it's gone. For quite a while I didn't miss football at all.

"I was a little bit fed up in view of what happened but towards the end I realised how much I did miss it, just being outside living a healthy lifestyle and being around the boys.

"The best remedy for anything that I had was to come out and train and be healthy."

Bosnich has now shed 12kg since joining the training sessions at QPR and is now just 4kg heavier than his old playing weight.

He's back training under his former Chelsea goalkeeping coach Ed de Goey at QPR who has been impressed by the one-time star's new-found dedication.

"The first day he came in I thought ‘Oh my God, what's happening around here?' said De Goey.

"He was overweight and fat but as soon as he came in he worked very hard and he has lost two stone and is looking fitter by the day."

With one reserves match under his belt, Bosnich is now hoping it could lead him back to a first team appearance.

He told Fox Sports: "I owed a lot to the people I let down who were close to me but also perhaps owing it to myself.

"I just wanted to get healthy and get into super shape and I am well on the way to that. I didn't realise I would get this far this quickly.”