For all the eye-watering numbers we regularly see on football rich-lists, none compare to the wealth of former Chelsea youngster Faiq Bolkiah.
A May list of the richest sportspeople in Britain found a number of current footballers have fortunes north of £50m. This is a drop in the ocean compared to Bolkiah, though, who is worth an estimated £13bn.
If that sounds like a big leap, it's because the bulk of his fortune is nothing to do with his football career. The 24-year-old is the nephew of the Sultan of Brunei, while his father is a prince in the southeast Asian country, but he decided to go his own way and pursue a career as a professional athlete.
Born in the United States, Bolkiah grew up in England and was educated at Bradfield College, a boarding school in Berkshire which these days charges fees north of £40,000 per year. After spells on the books of AFC Newbury and Southampton, the latter when the Saints were still outside the Premier League, he later joined Chelsea's academy as a teenager.
“You would never ever have thought he was something like the 12th in line to the throne,” former teammate and one-time Blues youngster Ruben Sammut told The Athletic in 2020. "We didn’t realise who he was and nobody at Chelsea initially knew what his background was.”
The attacking midfielder has also been looked at by Reading and Arsenal before moving to west London. He trained with the appropriately-nicknamed Royals, and also scored for the Gunners in a trial stint, netting against a Singapore as part of a squad which also contained England youth internationals Chris Willock and Tolaji Bola.
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Bolkiah wasn't able to make a breakthrough at Chelsea, but another English side did take a chance on him. Leicester City signed the super-rich star in 2016, handing him a three-year contract which eventually became four.
While he didn't make a senior appearance for the Foxes, he was more of a presence in the under-23 side alongside others who did make the cut. He was part of the 2016-17 UEFA Youth League squad alongside Harvey Barnes, setting up a goal for Admiral Muskwe as Leicester took on Club Brugge, and shared a pitch with the likes of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Nigeria defender Calvin Bassey in other games.
The closest he came to a Premier League 2 appearance was a spot on the bench at Arsenal in December 2016. He didn't get on the pitch, though, with an Eddie Nketiah hat-trick putting Leicester to the sword.
The super-rich star got some more games under his belt after leaving the King Power Stadium, joining Portuguese outfit Maritimo and featuring for their under-23 side. He was also among the substitutes for a home defeat against Sporting in 2021, but his chances of pitting his wits against Matheus Nunes and Joao Palhinha only got that far.
He was 24 by the time he finally ended that long wait for first-team minutes in a top-flight league. It came in Thailand, with Bolkiah joining Chonburi after leaving Maritimo by mutual consent, and he has begun to find his feet for the five-time national champions.
“It's really exciting for the team to have players who have been in the news all over the world," Chonburi general manager Sasit Singtothong said when announcing the deal. Bolkiah was even introduced as the richest footballer in the world when he signed, but Singothong insisted the star would get no special treatment.
"First of all we can feel that he is professional," Singtothong added. "He didn't want any special privileges more than a professional footballer will receive.
"I believe he will be a good choice for us in attack because he has great skill and ability, including having good experience as well. Has also been through a lot in England."
Bolkiah played 14 of the 15 games for which he was eligible in his first Chonburi season, providing four assists as his team finished in mid-table. His second season has been interrupted by injury, but he recently returned from the bench in league games against Bangkok FC and Ratchaburi.
With his huge wealth and massive popularity on social media - an Instagram following of more than 200,000 is far higher than your average Thai League player - Bolkiah will always have attention on him. As he showed in his first Chonburi season, though, attention for his football would be just as welcome.
