Gay Soccer Star Jake Daniels Offers Coming Out Help to Closeted Players

Out gay English soccer star Jake Daniels says he hopes the example he's set inspires closeted footballers to come out – and he'll be there to help out when they do.

Speaking with Sky Sports a year after his own groundbreaking coming out, Daniels noted that "there have been referees and we've had Zander [Murray] over in Scotland who has come out."

He went on to add, "It has kind of got the ball rolling a bit more and I am hopeful that maybe next year or the year after we'll have a top-flight Premier League footballer who is able to come out and live his life as an active UK footballer."

Though the response to Daniels' public embrace of authenticity has been supportive, suggesting that soccer may be ready to shed its homophobic reputation, the floodgates have not exactly opened.

Sky Sports noted that "while there have been examples, with Getafe midfielder Jakub Jankto, who is on loan at Sparta Prague, and Adelaide United defender Josh Cavallo both also coming out, no Premier League player has followed suit yet."

But when they do, they'll find a mentor in Daniels, who already understands one crucial thing: "You can't force it."

"Since I've come out there has been rumors of Premier League footballers who might be coming out," the 18-year-old forward acknowledged, before going on to add, "'If they want to come out, then they will."

"You can't force it, but hopefully there is that courage to come out because we need that group to keep getting larger so it can just move on in football and it can become the norm," Daniels added.

Rumors notwithstanding, Daniels has not heard from any closeted players looking for advice – not yet, anyway. But, Daniels said, "I am hoping someone does because I am probably the only person with that full guidance, and I can give them it."

"'For me, if I saw that message, it would be a proud moment and maybe a teary moment to be completely honest," Daniels continued. "The best thing I ever did was speak out and it will be difficult."

One happy result of that is that Daniels has found love.

After he came out last year, Metro recounted, "Jake switched off, going on holiday with his friends, and days later returned to tens of thousands of message requests on Instagram from people congratulating and supporting him – which is how he met his now-partner Mark, 46."

Daniels recalled how it happened in an appearance on the "How to be a Man" podcast, telling host Rylan Clarke, "I think when I had my Instagram back I had 20,000 message requests or something ridiculous like that, I'd never seen that in my life."

Looking at his message requests – "just to have a gander" – Daniels found that "the top message was from my [now] partner, just congratulating me."

"'I had a sneaky look on his Instagram and I was like, 'Alright!'" the athlete shared, before relating, "We got chatting from then, we FaceTimed a few times, met up a few days later in Blackpool and we've been together ever since."

"Jake added that Mark was 'definitely my soulmate,' and that he 'couldn't be any more happy' now that he was out and in a loving relationship," Metro recounted.

His eventual coming out and subsequent happiness was a long time coming. The pro player – who was playing on Blackpool's youth team at the age of seven – told "Sky Sports last year [that] he was 'probably five or six years old when I knew I was gay. So it's been a long time that I have been living with the lie,'" Metro recalled.