Ten 4x4s, 30 bank accounts...but Eric lost it all

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.

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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."