Dealers in Rolex and other luxury watches are actively targeting academy players at the English Premier League’s biggest clubs as they look to build lifelong relationships with big-spending clients.
Premier League clubs recruit players into their academies from the age of nine, with only a small percentage making the grade to earn professional contracts.
They can be paid during their time at academies, but only those given contracts start to earn big money of the full time professionals.
WatchPro has learned that many authorised dealers and secondary market traders pay close attention to academy players and, to put it in football parlance, tap them up at a young age in an effort to guide them into a love of expensive timepieces.
Dealers have shown how they research the players most likely to make the playing squads of the biggest teams.
These players are approached, either directly at training grounds and other footballing locations, or via social media.
“Obviously footballers love their watches, and it has become super-competitive getting to know young players and building relationships with them,” one dealer told WatchPro anonymously.
That’s got ro be nice.
I’ve had a couple of watches ⌚️ I’ve tried to buy new only to find they are unavailable only to be contacted, sometimes same day, by a 3rd party offering me the same watch from the back of his car/shop/local pub at sometimes double the price