Footballers are known for making some rather rash purchases, especially the ones earning good money in the big leagues, but very rarely are any questionable decision due to an accident.
We've seen things like ridiculous pink cars and horrifying snooker tables, and that's just from Stephen Ireland, but it turns out that the most ridiculous thing Swansea midfielder Leroy Fer ever bought was due to a big misunderstanding.
While playing in Holland, a friend invited Fer along to an expensive auction of prized horses, and out of curiosity he went along not knowing that he would soon be calling his partner trying to explain that he had bought her a horse.
Speaking to The Guardian, Fer told the tale and revealed that it quickly turned into a positive.
I was playing for Twente at the time. A friend invited me along to an auction for really good horses – racehorses – and some of them went for €500,000. It was a totally new experience for me. There was this horse, they said it wasn’t the best, but that it was nice. I was playing around on my phone, I heard €30,000 and I said to the guy: ‘This one’s for me’, because I thought the price would go higher afterwards.
I was still on my phone and I heard: ‘One, two …’ I said: ‘Is this me?’ And everyone said: ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s you.’ Suddenly they said: ‘Sold to the guy upstairs.’ Someone realised it was me and the guy said: ‘Leroy Fer bought the horse.’ They got me to stand up. I was sweating. I didn’t want the horse – I was living in an apartment.
Xenia wasn’t with me, so I called her and said: ‘Babe, I bought you a horse.’ I had to repeat it. She’s into horses, I joked with her before that I was going to buy her one. But she couldn’t believe it when I phoned. Thankfully, about 10 minutes later, someone came up to me and said: ‘Do you really want that horse?’ I said: ‘Nah, I was just fooling around.’ He offered to buy it off me for €35,000, so I made a bit of money. But for 10 minutes I was thinking: ‘Shit, I’ve got a horse. Where shall I leave it?’
He got very lucky!
The fact that he ended up making a profit is utterly ridiculous, but it another interesting story about an interesting character. After relegation with QPR, Swansea signed Fer on loan before making the deal permanent in the summer which has proven to be an excellent bit of business as the Dutchman has bagged three goals in four games already this season.
