Top-flight footballers and their partners are facing a worrying trend: sophisticated burglary gangs are targeting their homes, stealing luxury items, and moving the loot overseas.
Criminals reportedly transport stolen watches, jewellery, and designer goods to Ireland, where they are exchanged for drugs and firearms.
How the Heists Are Carried Out
These criminal operations are highly organised.
Career offenders, often linked to Dublin’s notorious “Gucci Gang”, team up with Albanian criminals to plan raids.
They track players and their partners on social media, noting expensive possessions before assembling teams to strike.
Targets are usually Premier League players in Cheshire and Merseyside, with thieves exploiting gaps in domestic security.
They prefer domestic burglary charges over more serious crimes due to lighter sentences and are often brazen enough to raid properties while the occupants are at home.
Methodology of the Burglaries
Local crews deliver the gangs to the homes, supported by lookouts and getaway drivers.
Telescopic ladders are used to access upper floors, with the master bedrooms often being the first point of entry, given the presence of high-value items in walk-in wardrobes.
Stolen goods are then verified by dealers to confirm authenticity before being transported abroad.
High-Profile Victims
Premier League stars such as Jack Grealish, Raheem Sterling, Alexander Isak, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have all fallen victim to these crimes.
In one notable case, Grealish and partner Sasha Attwood lost around £1million worth of watches and jewellery when burglars struck their Cheshire mansion during a Manchester City match in December 2023.
Though the gang fled quickly, the ordeal left the England international and his family traumatised.
Grealish later shared on social media the emotional impact, saying: “I can’t begin to explain how devastated I am over the burglary that took place at my home.
My family means the world to me… I’m just so grateful that nobody was hurt.”
The Organised Crime Network
Sources describe the criminals as professionals who prefer domestic burglaries to higher-risk armed robberies.
Stolen items are driven across Scotland and then to Ireland, where they are either kept, sold locally, or traded through the Gucci Gang, a syndicate with links to the Kinahan cartel.
The gang’s leader, Glen Ward, known as “Mr Flashy” for his love of designer fashion, is currently serving a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
Players Fight Back with Security Measures
Premier League clubs, including Manchester United, have invested heavily in protecting their players.
Security measures range from round-the-clock response teams and panic rooms to geofencing, CCTV, motion sensors, and trained guard dogs.
Some players employ drivers doubling as protection officers, live-in bodyguards, or house sitters.
Liverpool forward Alexander Isak, for instance, reportedly spent £30,000 on a Dobermann after a gang targeted him in Newcastle, stealing cash, jewellery, and a luxury car.
Other stars, including Sterling, Grealish, Marcus Rashford, and Jake O’Brien, also use attack dogs to safeguard their homes.
Despite Precautions, Threats Persist
Even with extensive security, players remain vulnerable.
Sterling lost £300,000 in valuables while in Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, and confronted burglars with a knife to protect his children during a November break-in.
Other victims include Bradley Dack and Olivia Attwood, who experienced multiple raids and eventually sold their property, as well as Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury, who had £800,000 worth of goods stolen in Manchester.
Oxlade-Chamberlain and partner Perrie Edwards also saw their Cheshire home burgled in 2022, highlighting the persistent threat to high-profile footballers.
The Growing Concern for the Football Community
These incidents underscore the lengths that organised crime will go to exploit wealth and status.
For Premier League stars, it’s a stark reminder that even millions spent on security cannot fully guarantee safety, and vigilance remains a constant requirement.
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