Djemba twins and their money

BahamaRed

Looked after his money like he played football.

£75,000 a month but Eric finished up broke

By Ian Ladyman - More by this author » Last updated at 20:31pm on 13th March 2008
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He may have made no impact on the field during his four years in English football but former Manchester United flop Eric Djemba-Djemba has unwittingly and belatedly provided a shocking insight into the hedonistic, cash-soaked world of the Premiership footballer. Declared bankrupt at a Birmingham court last September, Cameroon midfielder Djemba-Djemba is currently earning a relatively modest £15,000 a month playing for the Qatar SC club in the Middle East. Having failed during two seasons at United and subsequently at Aston Villa and Burnley, the 26-year-old has made a new life for himself in the desert in a bid to kick start a career that saw him play in the World Cup at the age of 20.

But Sportsmail can reveal today that Djemba-Djemba also left England in a bid to rebuild a life shattered by financial wastefulness. His is a tale that should serve as a lesson to any young footballer suddenly finding himself with excess cash. Football is awash with stories of players who have spent too much of their money on drink, women and fast cars. But none quite like this. As his exasperated agent Christophe Mongay claims today, Djemba-Djemba was in such dire straits during his time as a £75,000-a-month footballer at Old Trafford that he relied solely on his appearance and win bonuses to get by. With his client allegedly running a fleet of 10 4x4 vehicles and juggling cash between an astonishing 30 different bank accounts, Mongay paints a sorry tale of an African footballer drowning in a sea of unsustainable credit. Mongay said: 'Eric is on a different planet. He simply has no notion of money. At one point, he had 30 different bank accounts. He was juggling between credits. 'There was a time when he owned 10 4x4-drive cars — 10! I kept telling him all the time to watch out. When he arrived at Manchester United, I decided to take over the running of his accounts. It used to take me four hours a day! At United he was earning about £75,000 basic per month. But every penny was going straight to loan repayments. He was having to live on bonuses and extras. He started to ask United for advances and, at a club like that, something like that doesn't go down well.'

Djemba-Djemba made his name first with Nantes, where he emerged as a hard-tackling midfielder. He was identified by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson as a potential replacement for Roy Keane and signed for £2.5million in 2003. An unequivocal failure during one-and-a-half seasons with United, Ferguson has subsequently hinted at problems off the field but has never expanded on them. Here, it appears, is the remarkable truth. French sources have revealed that Djemba-Djemba's troubles with money began when he began to earn decent wages at Nantes. As the player himself admitted: 'African footballers tend to give all their money to their compatriots. I even helped complete unknowns. I was young, I was cocky, I took no account of anything. Nowadays, I say no.' In France, he was far too impressionable and, with nobody to offer him proper advice, began to send money home to 'good causes'. Sources at United revealed that he would often splash out large sums arranging for bulky items of furniture to be sent to Africa. But this spending soon spiralled and apparently Djemba-Djemba became tempted by self-indulgence. Years later — following a £1.5m transfer to David O'Leary's Aston Villa in January 2005 — things had not changed. A Villa source said: 'Eric was a nice guy. But he wasn't in the team and every time I saw him he just looked bored. He drove one of the biggest cars at the club, like a Hummer. People expected one of the club's really big stars to get out of it. But it was Eric. He would wear designer clothes and look flash, even though underneath he was not.' In the wake of insolvency proceedings against him last autumn, it was reported that Djemba-Djemba even owed money to the Villa club shop for 'merchandise'. The assumption is that he was still sending items home.

Djemba-Djemba recently denied reports in France that he owes £400,000 in English taxes. He said: 'This is impossible because tax is taken directly from your salary and that's how I was paid at both Manchester United and Aston Villa. I am not worried about any of this. I have a good salary in Qatar now.' On the face of it, this tragi-comic tale is of the irresponsibility of one footballer. But the apparent lack of guidance offered a young man adrift in a strange environment is shocking. The innocence that was to cost him so dear is perhaps best summed up by his first coach at Nantes, Guy Hillion. He said: 'He was touching. He used to get ecstatic about everything. One of the first things he said when he arrived was: “I don't understand this. In France, I see money coming out of the walls”. He was talking about cash machines.'

RedKaos

Arrrgh, big wall of text! my eyes!

BahamaRed

Edited

park fiction

feel sorry for the lad.

you grow up with nothing, and then your on that money and playing infront of the world.

not many could cope with that.

ERICSAGOD

I'd love to know what ''substance'' SAF was using, when he decided that Djembax2 was just what we needed.

BahamaRed

Was it Lyon last week where they had the Djemba quads playing?

Hectic

That's a sad story.

Gazza

How wasteful. To spend such amounts of money with so little in return is pure fiscal madness.

KingEric7

Wow. I thought his money problems were gambling related.
Heart's in the right place, i guess. Fucking hell.

Sarni

He was apparently quite good at Nantes before he came, although I find it hard to believe since nobody but us was interested at the time.

Raven Blade

Thats such a shame. If only I was on those wages I would show them how to properly manage your money.

Pat_Mustard

I saw him play once at Nantes and he was pretty impressive. Only one game, but I was still surprised at quite how shite he turned out to be.

RedKaos

Cheers, good read in the end.

Just amazing how people manage to screw up even with that much money.

ave fenix

He used to get ecstatic about everything. One of the first things he said when he arrived was: “I don't understand this. In France, I see money coming out of the walls”. He was talking about cash machines.'[/QUOTE]

Poor guy

Brophs

Giggsy PO

Poor lad. Ronaldo´s best mate.

John the Writer

Still, at least he was a mint footballer.

Ramshock

im amazed that people within the game dont have some sort of support system for these kinda players, especially the african boys who dont have anything while starting out.

You have to wonder why the Fergie is publicly protective of the the likes of Giggsy and Ronaldo but something like this happens to a less talented (to put it mildly) player, he should make sure all of his players are educated on money matters. He is a father figure to them. Im not attacking SAF Im just saying its a shame something like this happened on his watch!

Yes they are grown men but most of them are still big kids without a lot of basic everyday smarts especially when it comes to loads of cash and what not to do with it!

duffer

How on earth will he survive on only £15,000 per month.

Poor guy, we should organise a sponsored walk or something.

Ramshock

BAMSOLA

Thats a sad story, especially the part where it details how much we spent on him. Thats 2.5 mil that we'll never see again. Sad.

Sylar

Exactly. How the fuck can you complain with something like that.

mu77

yeah fucking bummer. paid shed loads to play football in the biggest stadiums in the world. you're joking right? you need to see pain and suffering and feel sorry for those who live in it daily!

Crustanoid

I wonder if he was using Essien's calculator to keep track of his day to day spending?

That would explain the shortfall between imagined cash and actual cash, hence his spectacular financial demise

Ivor Ballokov

Well he was always bankrupt in the talent department.

BahamaRed

I don't think he realized he had to share his salary between two people

GaryLifo

Villa paid us 1.5M for him in 2005.

so he only cost us 1M plus another 1M in wages

Ekeke

This is a sad story definately. Whether or not he did enough to earn £75k a week, managing to spend it before he even got it a new level in irresponsibility.

Though... "Tough tackling midfielder" ? To be a tough tackling midfielder he'd have had to try and win the ball back when we didn't have it. He did not.

bergen

75k a month, not 75k a week. That's below 20k a week.

Jacob

doesn't this belong in the football forum?

The Hairdryer

No where in the article did it say he earned 75K a week.

charlenefan

I honestly have no idea what we ever saw in him, seriously if you can't even make a lasting impact at Burnley let alone Villa (who at the time wasn't all that) how on earth was he ever good enough to play for us?

I guess everyone will always be left wondering what would of happened if he had stayed with Nantes?

77

He still wore the shirt...

TakeMeHome

Thats still more than enough

narnar

olesmyhero

I can see how he went bankrupt. Supporting one Djemba is easy. He could never support 2 Djembas on that salary though.

Ekeke

What I meant, obviously.

There's room for only one captain obvious.

IBleedRed

gratz on getting promoted park