MARCUS RASHFORD and Nicolas Pepe have shown they’ve always got time on their hands for a date with a celebrity jeweller so they can splash the cash on some mega-money jewellery.
The England and Manchester United striker poses for the camera with a pricey diamond necklace worth around £26,000.
Nicolas Pepe is the latest customer for luxury jeweller MJJ
Marcus Rashford also recently splashed £26k on a diamond necklace with MJJ
And on his wrist sits a Richard Mille watch. The timepieces can cost anywhere from £100,000 to millions for rare examples.
The star was even wearing a bright orange woolly hat to match the straps on his watch.
The expensive trinkets were supplied by Nottingham jeweller Matthew Jones – whose MJJ firm is dubbed Rebel in Luxury.
The shop boss flogs his wares to footballers and sportsmen across the world, as well as musicians and telly stars.
He shared snaps of the footballer on Instagram and wrote: “Our bro @marcusrashford changing the blueprint with our MJJmade iced prong set Cuban. Enjoy them.
“New orange straps on that mille all supplied by @mjjexclusive. Thanks for your support.”
And the bling boss has also been snapped alongside Ivory Coast star Pepe at Arsenal’s ground when he arrived to drop off the player’s new £30,000 diamond encrusted Rolex.
His experts set the stones themselves and engraved the player’s name and shirt number ‘19’ on the face of the Swiss-made watch.
Simon showed off close-up snaps of the iced watch and said on social media: “Our CEO @rebelinluxury delivering @nicolas.pepe19 his #MJJMade Rolex upgrade swipe to see the details…”
Pepe took delivery of this stunning Rolex watch that cost £30k
Rashford shows off her stunning diamond necklace on Instagram
SERVING FOOTBALL’S ELITE
In the past, Jones, 31, has also delivered goods to football gods, including Sergio Ramos, Gabriel Jesus, Roberto Firmino, Alvaro Morata, Ederson, Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling and Luka Modric.
Matthew told SunSport how he got involved with footballers in the first place.
I’m from a big footballing family,” he began.
“My dad is Mick Jones, who was at Derby County when Brian Clough was manager.
He also went on to work with Neil Warnock as his assistant manager at various clubs.
“He managed in the Premier League with Sheffield United and QPR.
“My godfather is Roy McFarland, who played for England and Derby County too.
“So I grew up around football all my life and became friends with a lot of footballers.
“I set the business up in 2012, so it’s still relatively new.
“I’d always been interested in brand building and had an obsession with luxury brands.
“I loved the fashion industry and with that came a passion for high-end watches and jewellery.
“It all started when a friend offered to give me some watches to sell and we would split the profit.
“I went to all the football agents in England and introduced myself. The agents were great to me. I actually began selling more watches to agents than footballers at first!”
Raheem Sterling has shopped with MJJ
Dele Alli shows off a watch bought from MJJ on holiday in LA
Alli’s Audemars Piguet watch would’ve set him back around £65k
A WAY IN
Jones found a way into football initially through Grant Holt, when the centre forward was at Norwich.
Then, through word of mouth, his reputation grew.
“I quickly found out as long as you look after players, they will look after you,” he revealed.
“Holt introduced me to a load of the lads, I traveled around the country selling to a host of clubs.
“I also used to reach out to footballers on Twitter and managed to organise meetings and sell watches that way.”
DELIVERY IS KEY
And Jones takes pride in delivering the pricey jewellery personally, making it his business’s USP.
“We take the product to the customer,” Matthew enthused.
“An average person can walk into a high street jeweler.
Matthew Jones takes pride in delivering jewellery to footballers personallyCredit: Instagram @mjjwatches
Jones goes all around the world serving footballers like Gabriel Jesus expensive itemsCredit: Instagram @mjjwatches
Jesus splashed out on a gold plated iPhone caseCredit: Instagram @dejesusoficial
“But these footballers travel the world, they’re busy. And for someone who plays at the highest level, they sometimes don’t have the same freedom to walk into a retail store.
“They want someone to take the product to them, someone they trust and someone who guarantees delivery.”
Jones added: “It’s always a real pleasure to spend time on a more personal level as well as a business one.
“It’s all about brand building, relationship building and connecting luxury items with footballers.”
Watches will always be the status symbol that measures wealth and success.
And footballers love to customise their own expensive timepieces.
“We do a lot of customisation. They ask what’s in fashion, so we create bespoke pieces.”
FASHIONISTA BELLERIN
Like Pepe, his Arsenal teammate Bellerin wanted an exclusive timepiece, as did Spanish striker Morata.
Hector Bellerin’s Day-Date has his initials etched onto the dial
Jones enjoys incredible access to footballers, and gets perks like free tickets
“I did a very unique dial for Hector Bellerin,” Matthew revealed.
“He’s very fashionable, he wanted something different. So we created a deep blue dial stripped back on a Day-Date with his initials on the dial.
“We created a full Black-Out of the especially rare Rolex James Cameron with a deep blue dial for Morata too.”
It’s all in a day’s work for Jones, who admits he lives a life we can all envy.
He said: “I get offered access all areas to most games. Footballers are really great guys, they look after you.
“But whether I’m having a kickabout with Benjamin Mendy at his home or playing basketball with Dele Alli, the perk for me is to do something unique and create it.
“And I love how appreciative footballers are. That’s something not a lot of people ever get to see.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
