The 32-year-old was tipped for big things at Manchester City, but ended up quitting football in his mid-20s.
Former Manchester City youth player Reece Wabara was considered the next big talent when emerging through the academy at the Etihad Stadium. He made his solitary appearance for the club on the final day of the 2010/11 season.
Temporary stints with Ipswich Town, Oldham Athletic, Blackpool and Doncaster Rovers followed, before he departed City in 2014. The full-back signed for Doncaster on a permanent basis and had brief periods with Barnsley, Wigan and Bolton before hanging up his boots in 2017.
The now 32-year-old instead channelled his energy into launching his own business, which has resulted in him earning millions of pounds away from football.
READ MORE: BREAKING: Scott Parker leaves Burnley with immediate effect after club’s Premier League relegationREAD MORE: Diego Simeone behaviour branded ‘awful’ as pundits all agree on Arsenal penalty controversy
Speaking to CEOCAST in December 2022, Wabara said of his football career: “It’s my fault, I was complacent, I didn’t go hard enough.
“It was too easy up until 18, then everyone started to catch me up. I was the best player.
“You’re a kid, you don’t have that understanding. When it’s easy and you don’t know it’s easy until retrospect, you don’t go hard.
“Everybody told me how good I was going to be, that I’d play for England, that I’d be Manchester City’s next right-back. And I wasn’t good enough and everybody caught me up. I went on a few loans, didn’t perform, you know your time is up. I’m very paranoid now that it only takes a year and you’re done, one big mistake and you’re out of the game.”
Alongside his football career, the right-back launched and was developing his fashion business Maniere de Voir. He revealed the precise moment he decided to prioritise that over football.
“I was playing for Wigan, we got promoted and I was in the team of the year,” he said. “A member of the management said I’d been fantastic but they felt I was focusing on the business too much.
“I knew I was playing a game of politics, in that moment, when I started to get the switch… I thought to myself, I can’t have my future in someone else’s hands. I had the business, that was me taking that stand, in the moment I was like, ‘you know what, I’m done.’
“People saw me as flashy, not dedicated, focusing on the business. I started the clothing business, people said I just wanted to have a brand. They didn’t see that all of those things were just me as a human being. I bumped into old managers and coaches, they say they saw it in me and I was misunderstood.
“It was too late when I started to prove myself, I had the reputation. You just have to be exceptional from the beginning, it’s very hard to drop down and get back up. It’s the same in football. You don’t see people spoken about as the next best thing, drop down, and then become that best thing.”
Wabara hung up his boots in his mid-20s after a stint with Bolton. Speaking on the High Performance podcast in 2020, he outlined the reasoning behind his decision to retire.
“I decided to completely stop because the business was doing really well and focus is important,” he said. “I was 25 or 26, I had to make a choice, what’s more long term? Where can I be the best of the best?
“And unfortunately, at the time, I could have played in the Premier League but to be a Champions League, World Cup-winning footballer was low percentage. I had to make the logical choice and that was to continue the business and take it as high as possible.”
That call appears to have paid off handsomely. The Sun reports that Maniere de Voir generates approximately £35million annually. Its debut store launched on Oxford Street in London in 2023.
Elaborating further on the choice, he told the CEOCAST: “I already threw away a high level, prosperous career. I had a lot of talent and was touted to be x, y and z. I failed, I know how that felt and it’s not going to happen again. I’m happy that those situations happened to me so now I know that if I can achieve ‘x, y and z’, don’t let myself be the root of that failure.”
He added on the High Performance Podcast: “I’m glad I missed the opportunity of Man City, England, being very highly rated. I was too complacent, that’s the bottom line. I always worked hard but I could have done more. It’s not regret because I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have that. But if I could live life again, I’d be playing in the Champions League or Premier League now.”
When pressed on whether he would have made it to the very top had he taken a different path, he replied: “100 per cent, without a shadow of a doubt.
“But I didn’t so it’s one of those things. At the same time, if I didn’t have that failure or slight regret, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I have now.”
It has since come to light that during his formative years at City, he had relationships with two former Coronation Street actresses. In her memoir Head and Heart: Break-ups, Breakdowns and Being Rosie, Helen Flanagan disclosed her short-lived romance with Wabara.
“I went out a few times with a Manchester City youth player called Reece Wabara who – and this is too funny – Brooke [Vincent] (her Coronation Street co-star) later ended up going out with.
“We were never serious and I didn’t sleep with him but there was one night he took me back to his lodgings after we’d been out in Manchester and his furious landlady kicked me out. ‘Er, you’re not going upstairs young lady,’ she said. Dead!” She added: “Reece was gorgeous but it fizzled out as quickly as it had started and I think he was a bit of a ladies’ man anyway.
“He’s actually gone on to have a really successful career away from football with his clothing brand Maniere De Voir which has a flagship store on London’s Oxford Street, so he’s come a long way since his landlady was clipping him round the ear for bringing back girls to the house.”
Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package
Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.
Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.
