World's richest footballer regrets leaving England after Chelsea and Arsenal spells

The world’s richest footballer, whose net worth eclipses that of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi combined, has revealed his worst transfer decision. Faiq Bolkiah comes from the House of Bolkiah and is nephew to the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, meaning he is one of several heirs to a staggering £20billion fortune.

That figure dwarfs Ronaldo’s hefty £640m and Messi’s £680m net worth, accumulated over their multiple Ballon d’Or-winning careers. But despite never being left wanting for cash, Bolkiah embarked on a football career, even showing great potential once upon a time.

Having been born in Los Angeles, the 26-year-old spent time in the youth academies of several Premier League sides. His footballing dream began with Newbury at youth level before moving between Southampton, Reading, and Arsenal’s academies. He even scored a goal while representing the Gunners on trial during the 2013 Lion City Cup trial.

Bolkiah went on to sign a two-year youth contract with Chelsea until 2015, trialled for Stoke City and then signed a three-year professional contract with Leicester City in 2016. However, he never made a senior appearance in England.

The left-winger thought he had finally got his big break when he signed a deal with Portuguese outfit Maritimo in 2020 but failed to make the first team and was demoted to their reserve side. After playing just one game for the Under-23s, he moved to Thai club Chonburi in 2021.

Now plying his trade with Ratchaburi in Thai League 1, Bolkiah reflects on his transfer to Maritimo with a huge sense of regret. Opening up to Main Stand, he said: “I had about three or four offers after Leicester.

“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.”

His time at Maritimo turned out to be a bitter experience but Bolkiah believes it only fuelled his desire to succeed. “It definitely made me stronger,” he recalled. “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.

“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.”

Boasting dual American and Bruneian citizenship, Bolkiah chose to represent Brunei at international level, making six senior appearances and scoring once. Although he didn’t make it in the Premier League, his youth career saw him play with notable talents such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham at Chelsea, as well as Ruben Sammut, who claimed that academy players reminded him of his wealth every day.

Speaking to The Athletic, Sammut explained: “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.”