World's richest footballer and Chelsea flop worth 12 times Messi and Ronaldo now free agent

· Mirror

The nomadic player, who had stints at various English clubs, finds his career at a crossroads

A footballer with a net worth that dwarfs the combined wealth of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has been left without a club. The name Faiq Bolkiah won't be familiar to most fans, but the former Chelsea and Arsenal youngster has an incredible backstory.

The 28-year-old is a nephew of the Sultan of Brunei and one of numerous heirs to a £200billion fortune. Individually, he boasts a reported net worth of £16bn. Incredibly, that's 12 times more than Messi (£680m) and Ronaldo (£640m) combined.

Unlike those two greats of the game, Bolkiah now finds himself without a club following the expiry of his contract with Thai club Ratchaburi. It comes after a varied career, which started in English football.

Born in Los Angeles, Bolkiah moved to the UK and grew up in Berkshire. After spells at Southampton, Reading and Arsenal, he moved to Chelsea, where he played alongside the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham in the youth ranks.

After leaving the Blues, Bolkiah had a trial at Stoke City before moving to Leicester City in 2016, around the time the Foxes won the Premier League. Bolkiah played in Leicester's U18 and U23 sides but failed to break through into the first team. After four years with the Foxes, he moved on to Maritimo in Portugal before switching to a club closer to his roots, playing for Thai side Chonburi and then Ratchaburi.

However, following his departure from the latter, where he made just 23 appearances in three years, his career is now up in the air. Despite his extreme family wealth, Bolkiah has been described as down-to-earth and humble.

One of his team-mates at Chelsea, Ruben Sammut, once told The Athletic: "You would never ever have thought he was something like the 12th in line to the throne. You would not have thought of him as royalty.

> "He was a humble guy, trying every day like every academy player. We used to joke he didn’t need to play football but he wanted to play because he loved football.

> "It wasn't a regular thing we mentioned. It was that typical banter, saying he is royalty, saying, 'What’s he doing playing with us?' But we all knew deep down how much he wanted to play, so it was more good-willed passing comments.

> "We don't know the ins and outs of the wealth of his family but he took football seriously, so full credit to him. He lived in digs like everyone else. I can't remember who with.

> "He just came in with the boy he was in digs with. This would have been age around 16-18, youth team group. We lived in digs, walking distance to the training ground. He didn't do the schooling.

> "It was youth team full-time training and stayed with a host family. He was just humble, he never wore flash clothes or came in flash gear, he just wore a tracksuit. Just a down-to-earth guy.

> "I think he did it so he didn't draw attention to himself. He knew if he was splashing the cash, it would create a bad image for himself."

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