ESTATE agents who help Premier League stars find their homes have revealed some of their crazy demands – including keeping real sharks in a tank.
For many footballers, a big-money transfer early in their career sees them move to a completely new place, often on their own.
Their new clubs will tend to be on hand to aid the house-hunting process thanks to player liaison officers.
But a large part of the job is done by estate agents dealing with the highly-paid superstars – and trying to match their lofty expectations.
Stephen Lovelady, head of residential sales at Barton Wyatt, said: “Players want all the toys: cinemas, golf simulators, indoor pools, hot tubs.”
Peter Crouch wrote in his book How to be a Footballer: “Even the players with kids can still be found spending their evenings playing Fifa on the PlayStation, beating themselves at pool and winning on fruit machines that can never pay out.”
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The former Tottenham, Liverpool and England forward also confirmed he had one team-mate who had “genuine sharks” in his fish tank.
Stephen Ireland famously custom built a staggering £100,000, 6,000-litre fish tank in his luxury mansion with a living coral reef and built-in WiFi to control it from his phone.
Andy Carroll and wife Billi Mucklow decorated their home with a garish and flamboyant giant pink sofa to go with their dining room disco lights.
And Samir Nasri avoided getting photographed out in public on a night out and needing to get home… by bringing the nightclub to his house with an incredible installation.
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Naturally, footballers want to have the biggest and best houses – and that comes at a premium cost.
Many will pay millions to buy a home or stump up five figures per month for the rent on the house of their dreams.
However, Carlos Tevez paid a staggering £30,000 per WEEK to rent his home during his time in Manchester.
But others have backed out of moves to the likes of Fulham and Millwall in the past due to the hefty rental prices in London.
Under the advice of their clubs, Manchester United and City stars tend to live in the plush Cheshire towns of Hale, Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Knutsford – rather than the more lively, public and, therefore, risky city centre.
Tom Burke from Savills in the north-west told the Financial Times: “They tend to live in about three rooms of these six-bedroom houses.
“Typically, dining rooms do not get used, five bedrooms will never be touched, the pool will rarely be used.
“Often, they want the pool for prestige. They want the best house on the market, they take the most expensive house on the market.”
But while some have massive expectations and arrive with a full entourage, others keep it very simple indeed, almost alarmingly so.
One player did not even bother with the hassle of sourcing any of his own furniture – and instead rocked up having bought everything that was already in the house.
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Burke’s Savills colleague Andrew Thorpe added: “They usually never want anything requiring work. They want something uber-high-spec, what we call ‘turnkey’.
“One player turned up on moving day literally with his chef and a suitcase.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
