“The best year of my life in football now doesn’t feel like something I can celebrate,” said Manchester City’s Jack Grealish after burglars raided his Cheshire house while his family was home. The invasion of the England football player’s home was one in a recent string of burglaries targeting the homes of high-profile sports stars when they are on the field or overseas. To criminals, the home of a footballer is no doubt an attractive proposition; likely to contain tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of high-value goods, including electronics, jewellery, designer clothing and luxury watches.
Burglars are able to work out their best opportunities to strike from the social media accounts of sports stars, who often post about their time away training or on family holidays, or even simply from the fixtures timetable. Footballers are not the only targets – the County Durham home of the England cricket captain, Ben Stokes, was burgled last month while he was in Pakistan for the Test series, but his wife and children were home. A man has been arrested and bailed in connection with the incident.
Last year there were at least five burglaries on the homes of footballers alone, including the Newcastle United midfielder Joelinton’s Northumberland house, and the , who is on loan in Saudi Arabia. Thieves targeted Grealish’s Cheshire home while he was playing on Boxing Day. His family were there at the time, and burglars escaped with £1m worth of possessions.
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