Footballers’ goal is to find home fit for lavish lifestyle
England international tells of the property scramble among highly-paid players in the ‘Golden Triangle’
WITH a six-figure weekly pay cheque, it is safe to assume that a Premier League footballer’s hunt for a dream home in one of the UK’S wealthiest counties is a straightforward affair.
But Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-chamberlain has suggested that top players are running out of mansions in Cheshire – with many left “scrambling for a house” due to the high demand for luxury rental properties.
The county is home to an area nicknamed the “Golden Triangle”, which has five of the 10 most expensive roads in the North West and where property prices average more than £1.5million. Estate agents say the desire for swimming pools, large gardens and modern houses is a key reason why the county is struggling to keep up with footballers hunting for a new home.
Oxlade-chamberlain, whose girlfriend is Perrie Edwards of pop group Little Mix, joined Liverpool from Arsenal for £35 million in August 2017.
The England international told The Telegraph he was forced to live in a hotel for two months while he struggled to find a Cheshire home. The 25-yearold would often see Everton footballer Gylfi Sigurdsson at breakfast. Oxlade-chamberlain said they were “both in the same situation”, adding: “Both scrambling for a house, probably viewing the same house and then it’s like a race. I might see a house and be stalling for a day and next thing I get a call and, oh no, Aaron Lennon [once of Everton, now at Burnley] has paid up front. I go and view a house and I’m told, ‘Just to let you know, Riyad Mahrez is viewing it today.’ I’m thinking, ‘Oh God, I’ve got my work cut out there – Mahrez has signed for City.’” One reason for the clamour for rental properties in Cheshire is because many footballers are wary about buying since they do not know how long they will be at a club. The battle between newly transferred footballers over the few high-end properties left in the area kicks off at the beginning of summer, when the recruitment process starts for the region’s biggest clubs. Oxlade-chamberlain, who spent seven years at Arsenal, swapped the sprawling London property market for one of the most compact, exclusive areas in the country where the rental market is “incredibly competitive”, estate agent Peter Higham said. He has been selling properties in Cheshire for 30 years for Gasgoine Hallman estate agents and added: “The rental market in Cheshire is competitive because the owners of these large luxury properties very rarely want to rent them out, usually opting to sell them.
“Footballers also tend to want a very specific type of property – they want the modern technology, they want the pool, the security and the large garden.
“You would not see the modern footballer buying a 1930s red brick – they want it new and bespoke.”
Mr Higham said the struggle to find many footballers the ideal Cheshire home was also down to football’s changing culture.
“When I first started dealing with footballers, they were all purchasing property because their agents wanted them to get settled in the area,” he said. “But because the modern footballer very rarely stays at one club for more than a few years, the agents are telling them to rent – because they could be somewhere else in a few years’ time.
“If you think of the old-school footballer, he would have stayed in town for five years or more. It’s not like that any more.”
It can cost as much as £15,000 per month to rent a property, with many footballers seeking the Alderley Edge area. Described as a “small, picturesque village”, it is popular with Manchester United players and was once home to David and Victoria Beckham.
The average price for a detached house in Alderley Edge is nearly £1 million, but there is a very limited number of properties due to greenbelt planning restrictions.
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‘Footballers also tend to want a very specific type of property – they want the modern technology, they want the pool, the security and the large garden’