What type of footballer is most like a pharmacist?  

It’s a profession that is reliable, the backbone of primary care, one that stayed open during Covid-19, and continues to work despite chronic financial pressures impacting the sector. 

“Pharmacists are sometimes under the radar in regards to the healthcare profession,” says pharmacist and football scout Khaleel Loonat.  

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“Maybe they are most like a central defensive midfielder, they don’t have the most flair, but they’re like N’Golo Kanté – he’s efficient and gets the job done. If we’re not there, the system collapses.” 

French World Cup winner Kanté is renowned for being everywhere and on the pitch, quick to sniff out the danger just how pharmacists are eager to prescribe the medication or treatment needed as soon as you visit them with an illness. 

Loonat shares an even more shrewd observation: “Obviously doctors are strikers! Your Erling Haaland or Mohammed Salah’s who get the limelight.”  

“Never about the money” 

Loonat’s route to football came a lot later than pharmacy. Having always wanted to work in healthcare, he was inspired to work hard through seeing the work ethic his dad had growing up in West Yorkshire. 

“Our family are not academics. I’m the first in my family to go to university. My dad worked hard at Fox’s biscuits to owning his own Post Office. I am aware of his sacrifices and seeing him work really hard, it’s probably rubbed off on me.” 

After completing his pre-reg, he started locuming in hospital outpatient departments in the Wirral before returning to West Yorkshire to work as a GP pharmacist.  

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He became an independent prescriber and is now also training as an advanced clinical practitioner (ACP). 

But his father’s entrepreneurial and hustling spirit have started to manifest themselves in Loonat’s professional work. He began clinical coding to make sure general practices assign the right codes to a patient’s condition they are treating to get reimbursed correctly by the quality and outcomes framework (QOF) for the work done. 

And he does consultancy work with pharmaceutical companies, and works with training platform Life Sciences Academy, attending webinars where he shares his clinical knowledge. 

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All these experiences have helped Loonat improve his people skills the most, something he attributes to being a good football scout. “We see so many different people through the door [in pharmacy], and the beauty of that is I can go into scouting and speak to parents from all walks of life.” 

He got into scouting after the coach for the local team he played for said he could shadow him in the scouting he did for Leeds United. Once he got his Football Association (FA) safeguarding qualification, he started shadowing twice a week unpaid for a year, stressing that “it was never about the money”. 

“Give kids opportunities”  

Loonat knew Bradford, Batley and Dewsbury in West Yorkshire well, particularly the South Asian communities in these areas, and saw there were young players from these backgrounds who should have been signed with an academy. 

“I was getting tip offs from parents and coaches about players who were decent,” he says. After being offered a position as a scout for Leeds United in June 2022, he took his level one talent identification course and began identifying players for the clubs. 

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He scouted two South Asian players in Bradford and worked with them before they both signed for Manchester United and Manchester City, and this helped to build his reputation for spotting football’s next big star. 

Leeds United then put him through the level two talent identification course, and Loonat continued to use his connections to the South Asian community to scout more players. 

“I have concentrated a lot on South Asians, not saying I ignore any other players, but they’ve been heavily underrepresented. Working within my community and giving these kids opportunities, now I have the platform where I can advise parents and push for certain kids to go into the academy system.” 

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He’s seen how perceptions of these players have gradually started to change too, as more South Asian players have come through in recent years, such as Hamza Choudhury, Zidane Iqbal, Mal Benning, Otis Khan and Yan Dhanda playing in the Premier League and English Football League (EFL). 

“People are now seeing South Asian players can play football and there’s been a misconception that we can’t, or we’re not strong enough. If you’re looking at the best players in the Premier League, some are small but they’re very technical and can move the ball around. Football’s evolving and you’re looking for those smaller players to create something.” 

Football creates “happy memories” 

Fast forward to June 2024, Loonat has now become a senior scout for Leeds United as he manages a group of scouts in the Bradford area and works with the head of recruitment at the club’s training facilities in Thorp Arch. 

Balancing his schedule is impressive, especially after becoming a dad as he now has a three-month-old daughter with his very “understanding” wife. “I’m one of those people where I’m either really busy, 100 mile per hour, or I’m not doing anything. But I like to be on the go all the time.” 

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He works Monday to Friday with his Thursday at university for his ACP training and evenings used to do assignments and revision. But he also is assigning games to scouts in the evenings too. 

“I’m ringing my contacts, looking which games my scouts are going to. My spreadsheet has all the Bradford teams and from a recruitment point of view, we need to ensure we haven’t left a stone unturned. Saturday, I’m working in my pharmacy 9-12. In the afternoon, I may be going to games, but it depends on my Sunday.” 

And in the past year, Loonat has also been invited to the Premier League headquarters for the South Asian Action Plan initiative to get more South Asians into the game. “We had a group discussion with people from Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham about what we can do in our areas to get engagement and build relationships to get these players in. 

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“Leeds United has a duty of care to our community to engage with all communities irrespective of where they’re from. With the Premier League initiative, there’s a lot more engagement with these communities and progress kids through the academy system. Bringing kids to Thorp Arch is an experience itself and creates happy memories.” 

While Loonat admits there’s no money in scouting, he says “you do it for the passion and for giving kids opportunities” and seeing them “hopefully make it as a professional footballer and being a part of that journey”. 

It’s a similar passion he has for pharmacy too as he loves “improving patient quality and outcomes”, and he’s happy he can make a difference in both sectors. 

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“What I love is that when I scout these kids, I still get call from the parents asking me for advice. Wherever they sign, I feel as if I’ve done my job as I’ve given them a platform to sign.” 

“People get bogged down with pharmacy and their jobs,” he says. “But if you’re really passionate about something, and you don’t try it, you never know.”