At just 34, he went from being an elite athlete training top-level footballers to a virtual prisoner at home during his slow recovery.

“It’s very demoralizing for someone so active to be told you can’t do any normal things,” Zois said of his six-week recovery.

“You’ve got to walk out of the door and be holding someone’s hand just to go for a stroll down the street.

“I wasn’t clinically diagnosed but I’ve self diagnosed myself that I went through a mild depression. It made me feel somewhat useless and it was very, very hard to deal with.”

He said his sudden health shock was tough on his partner and daughter but his family and friends proved to be key in getting through the dark days.

And Zois’s backgrounds as a footballer - accustomed to disciplined approach and goal setting - helped him mentally cope with the health scare.

The former NAC Breda, Willem II and South Melbourne glovesman also paid tribute to his surgeon Dr David Wallace and the staff at the Royal Melbourne Private Hospital who were an inspiration.

“They are like angels on earth," he said. "I don’t want to sound corny but they are unique.”

Zois returned to Heart’s Latrobe training base in recent months and felt like he’d got his life back.

"I was like a puppy at the park,” he said. “It was like being at a playground again. I was happy just to be there, not even to kick a ball.

“And the Heart boys and coaching staff were very understanding until I was able to resume my work as per normal.

"I look back at it and although I remember it I don’t remember it. It seems so long ago. Maybe subconsciously I’ve put it in the back of my mind.

“I’ve grown so much more as a person. And it’s made me work on things a lot harder because you just don’t know what’s round the corner in life.”

Now he will be teaming up with Manchester United goalkeeper coach Eric Steele who is heading to Australia soon for 12 days to work with Zois’s current batch of academy protégés.

Zois’s side project is Premier Football Tuition (www.premierfootballtuition.com.au) which has secured Steele’s visit in May.

As well as mentoring current Red Devils’ shot-stopper David De Gea, Steele is also a former Aston Villa and Manchester City keeper coach who has trained the likes of Peter Schmeichel and Edwin Van Der Saar.

“He’s one of the best – if not the best – goalkeeper coaches in the UK and is world renowned,” Zois told au.fourfourtwo.com.

In previous years Zois’s academy has brought out David Coles, a former keeper coach at West Ham and Portsmouth now working in the UAE Pro League with Al Jazira.

“We as coaches, we can learn off guys like Eric and David, who’ve worked at such a high level.

“I really want to ask Eric about De Gea who didn’t start off the season crash hot but has really done well now.”

Zois, a former Dutch-based keeper, believes former Melbourne Victory shot-stopper Mitch Langerak - now at German champions Borussia Dortmund - could take over the mantle held by Mark Schwarzer after this current World Cup cycle.

“Mark wants to go on and on and rightly so, because he’s playing at such a good level. Speaking with Tony Franken [Socceroo keeper coach] he said Mark just looks after himself so well,” said Zois.

“But when Mark decides to hang up his gloves I think it’ll be a toss up between [Adam] Federici and Langerak - who I rate highly.

"Although Mitchell’s not playing regularly right now he’s at a fantastic club and his time will come. He’s got such an all-round ability. He just needs to play a couple of seasons regularly as number one.

“The next World Cup may be too soon for Mitchell but the next one if the Aussies get there he’ll have a massive role to play.”

Zois said highly rated A-League’s young footballer of the year Mat Ryan was a Socceroos dark horse over the next few years if he moved overseas and played regularly at a good level.

He added: “Soon enough Mat will find himself in Europe and then look out, he’s fearless in goals. He’ll go a long, long way.”