Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Chelsea, Football
Marcus Chan
Former Chelsea youngster Faiq Bolkiah, who has a net worth more than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo combined, has opened up about his transfer regret.
Bolkiah boasts a huge net worth as he is part of the Bruneian royal family, he is worth an estimated £16 billion according to Spanish news outlet Marca.
To put things in context, Messi and Ronaldo, who are the biggest earners in recent history, are worth £511 million and £412 million respectively, as reported by The Express.
Bolkiah can easily purchase Premier League giants Manchester United, who are currently on sale with owners The Glazer Family holding out for around £6 billion.
Being the nephew of the Sultan of Brunei, Bolkiah has never needed to work a single day of his life.
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However, he was determined to chase his dream of being a professional football player.
When he was 12, Bolkiah was snapped up by Southampton. He then had a short spell with Reading before going on trial with Arsenal.
In the end, it was Chelsea who signed the youngster in 2014. During his time with the Stamford Bridge club, Bolkiah mainly played for the reserves and left for Leicester after his contract ended.
After failing to break through at Leicester, he left England on a free transfer to Portuguese side Maritimo. A move that he regrets.
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Earlier in the year, he told the Main Stand: “Maritimo said to me ‘you’ll come here, you’ll play’ so I said ‘I just want to be here for a year. The main thing for me is I want to play.’ Obviously, that didn’t happen.
“I definitely regret moving there. I feel like there was a lot of politics to do with it as well, why Maritimo wanted me. I didn’t feel like they were being fully honest.”
He added: “It definitely made me stronger. It definitely made me work harder and keep my head down. That didn’t change for sure. But I definitely made the right decision to leave.
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“I had another two years left on my contract there. They changed presidents at the time, I went in there and they understood my situation. It wouldn’t have done me or the club any good for me to be there longer.”
At the moment, Bolkiah is playing for Thai club Chonburi, but he has not given up on making it to the big leagues.