I was the Manchester United prodigy dubbed the ‘next Ryan Giggs’ who trained with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney… but I turned my hand to building a £5m luxury watch empire after injury robbed me of my career

Ramon Calliste was dubbed ‘the next Ryan Giggs’ and trained alongside Manchester United stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

But the Welsh prodigy was destined never to reach the top level of football after a brutal ankle injury.

However, Calliste has found success and fortune in a world close to the hearts of many footballers.

Players see high-end wristwatches not only as something to show off alongside their designer clothes, but also as a smart investment.

Their sports cars will depreciate in value as soon as they leave the showroom, while investments in racehorses and the stock market are risky.

But their Rolex, Patek Philippe and Richard Mille timepieces – some of which are worth the equivalent of a week’s wages for Premier League stars – will actually retain their value.

These young men with such eye-watering salaries also love the rarity of exclusive watches that cannot simply be purchased in a store, but are only available by invitation.

Marcus Rashford, who earns £315,000 a week at Old Trafford, has a enviable watch collectionwhile his England teammate Reece James said to a GQ interview he is obsessed with them.

Manchester City hotshot Erling Haaland also has a large watch collection, although Cristiano Ronaldo’s selection may inevitably be at the top.

It is a market that Calliste – who is incidentally one of the few players to bridge the gap between United and arch-rivals Liverpool – has tapped into.

As a footballer he managed to gain the trust of fellow professionals and his company, Global Watches, was said to earn £5 million a year.

The luxury watch specialist, with a branch in London’s exclusive Mayfair, specializes in hard-to-find Rolex, Patek Philippe, Richard Mille and Audemars Piguet watches.

Some are worth more than £250,000. On a typical day, Calliste says he deals in watches worth between £50,000 and £70,000.

“When I realized that football wasn’t going to give me the life I wanted, it was about switching things up and acting quickly,” Calliste, 38, said. The sun last year.

‘I got involved in watches through contacts I had in the football world.

‘Once I saw that it could become a viable business, I founded Global Watches in 2013 and it has become a very strong business that now has millions in turnover.

‘In the beginning I dealt with footballers, sold them watches and I already had that trust there.

“Even today, customers come online and they see it’s me and they feel comfortable buying from me.

“If you can take your inventory to a room of football players, maybe 10 millionaires, it’s better for everyone involved.”

Not only players appreciate a good timepiece on their wrist. A number of Premier League managers, past and present, also have a penchant for beautiful watches.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has worn the Rolex Cellini, Richard Mille 010 and A Lange & Sohne Datagraph at various points.

Frank Lampard “has more Pateks than the catalog,” James joked in his GQ interview, with the Swiss brand also a favorite of David Moyes and Brendan Rodgers.

Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and Fulham’s Marco Silva have been spotted wearing Rolexes.

“Even when I was younger, 15 to 20 years ago, people would sit in their cars and watch,” Calliste told the newspaper. Daily telegram.

“It’s a different perspective now because they are seen as assets and investments. To see that some of these players that I’m in contact with still have nice pieces in their collections and paid really good money many years ago, kept them in pristine condition and now they’ve gone through the roof.”

Calliste was still at school in Cardiff when United scouts first started keeping an eye on him. He was 15 when he and his family were invited to Old Trafford in 2000, where he met legendary boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who persuaded him to sign.

‘I had enormous respect for him and still do. He’s still a little intimidating. Such a wise man like him has a special appearance,” Calliste told the newspaper Manchester Evening News from Ferguson.

Calliste was part of the United team that won the prestigious FA Youth Cup in 2003 and was one of the players invited to train with the first team at their training base in Carrington.

But in 2005, after the Football Association decided to merge the club’s under-17 and under-19 squads into one under-18 side, Calliste was one of the unfortunate ones to be released.

Ferguson told him the sad news on April 1, but it was certainly no joke.

Liverpool came in as a fast attacker, but there was too much competition to break through at Anfield.

Calliste dropped back to Scunthorpe but had not even made his debut when he seriously damaged his ankle ligaments in a pre-season friendly at Brigg Town.

After a lengthy rehabilitation, he called it quits in non-league for a short time before retiring from football to focus on building his watch business.

Today he is based in Dubai and keeps a close eye on his Global Boutique on South Molton Street in central London.

Calliste added in his Sun interview: ‘We sell watches, beautiful jewelry and we have a certain amount of accessories, including Hermes bags.

‘Having a premises in Mayfair, with the number of customers coming in from all over the world and the type of customers we attract, has been great for business.’