Reece Wabara was training with Manchester City's first team during his time at the club. Now he's quit football and worth millions.
When most footballers in their early thirties move to America, it is often for a final pay-day or a chance to prolong their career in a nicer climate.
For Reece Wabara, former Manchester City academy graduate, he is taking the USA by storm having conquered the UK - but not in football. The ex-full-back came through the ranks at City and enjoyed some useful loans at local Football League clubs, even scoring the winner Oldham's FA Cup giantkilling of Liverpool and earned promotion to the Championship with Wigan.
But he always had his mind on more than football, ultimately hampering his playing career after fashion start-up Maniere De Voir began to take off. So after leaving Bolton in 2017, Wabara hung up his boots and focussed full-time on his fashion career. It is a decision that has proven far more lucrative than a football career.
Wabara, 33, is on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated net worth of £83m having taken Maniere De Voir from online fashion brand to a flagship store on Oxford Street which opened last year.
Not intent on standing still, Wabara is now in New York ahead of a store opening on Broadway, with the Big Apple home to their largest customer-base. It is a move that could see his earnings continue to rise - with his current figure according to last year's Rich List putting him ahead of the likes of Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling.
Erling Haaland, who has just signed a new nine-year contract at City worth a reported £500,000-per-week, is said to have earned between £32m and £46m (Forbes). His net worth will rocket with his new deal, of course, but it is a useful comparison for Wabara's success.
"It's my fault, I was complacent, I didn't go hard enough," Wabara told CEOCAST in December 2022 of his football career. "It was too easy up until 18, then everyone started to catch me up. I was the best player.
"Everybody told me how good I was going to be, that I'd play for England, that I'd be Manchester City's next right-back. And I wasn't good enough and everybody caught me up. I went on a few loans, didn't perform, you know your time is up. I'm very paranoid now that it only takes a year and you're done, one big mistake and you're out of the game.
"I was playing for Wigan, we got promoted and I was in the team of the year. A member of the management said I'd been fantastic but they felt I was focussing on the business too much. I knew I was playing a game of politics, in that moment, when I started to get the switch... I thought to myself I can't have my future in someone else's hands. I had the business, that was me taking that stand, in the moment I was like, 'you know what, I'm done.'
"People saw me as flashy, not dedicated, focussing on the business. I started the clothing business, people said I just wanted to have a brand. They didn't see that all of those things were just me as a human being. I bumped into old managers and coaches, they say they saw it in me and I was misunderstood."
In other interviews, Wabara has spoken about the decision to leave a promising football at a prime age, telling the High-Performance podcast: "I was 25 or 26, I had to make a choice, what's more long term? Where can I be the best of the best? And unfortunately at the time I could have played in the Premier League but to be a Champions League, World Cup-winning footballer was low percentage. I had to make the logical choice and that was to continue the business and take it as high as possible.
"I was at Man City and around really high performing people at the top of their game, watching how they operated on a daily basis," he continued. "I could take knowledge from them and see that's what I have to do. Whether it's Aguero, David Silva, they're always doing the same thing every day no matter their success.
"I'm glad I missed the opportunity of Man City, England, being very highly rated. I was too complacent, that's the bottom line. I always worked hard but I could have done more. It's not regret because I wouldn't be here if I didn't have that. But if I could live life again, I'd be playing in the Champions League or Premier League now."
Wabara insists he is better for his football experiences, and his relentless business moves back that up. He's about to take on New York and you wouldn't bet against him taking on more challenges in future.
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