The stories are almost as tasty as the spreads. Not for the first time, Jonny Marsh, the chef to the Premier League stars, is rustling up a feast.
There’s the one about cooking for Paul Pogba at his birthday party in a Manchester hotel when a huge African band turned up mid-service and played so loud the walls shook.
Or the time Ilkay Gundogan challenged him and a friend to see who could eat the most McChicken Sandwiches in an hour for a pair of Yeezy trainers. Or having no idea who the Manchester City official was talking about when she rang him to say ‘a guy called Kevin’ wanted a chef for Christmas.
‘I was like, “Who the f*** is that?”,’ Marsh tells Daily Mail Sport.
It was only when he informed his football-supporting chums that, apparently, the fella was from Belgium did they make it clear to him that it was only ‘Kevin De F***ing Bruyne’.
At the time, Marsh had the choice of whether to take up a position at three-Michelin-starred restaurant Noma in Denmark, one of the finest eateries on the planet, or have Christmas at the De Bruyne’s. He chose Kevin.
Jonny Marsh has become a chef to Premier League stars after being recommended to others by Kevin De Bruyne
The former Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan became good friends with Marsh
And that, really, was how Marsh, a lad from Tyldesley in Greater Manchester, who worked for Raymond Blanc at Michelin-starred restaurant Le Manoir and sailed the Mediterranean as a private chef on a superyacht, came to cook for the cream of the Premier League crop.
From Kevin, for whom he cooked for five years, the rest followed. His former City team-mates Ilkay Gundogan, Kyle Walker, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Leroy Sane. Luke Shaw, John Terry, Jordan Pickford and many, many more.
He stayed at Jamie Murray’s house for 10 days at Wimbledon. In recent times, he’s cooked for former Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund and current Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones.
He serves up delicious restaurant-quality dishes, packed full of all the nutrients needed for the players to perform at the top of their game – snacks, desserts, evening meals. Some want their meals dropped at their door, others he’ll have their door key and cook fresh for the stars. He still thinks he’s got De Bruyne’s key on his keyring somewhere.
‘I run it like a restaurant,’ he says. ‘I ask what time they want to eat, they say six and I’ll be there at 5.30pm. Everything is prepped. I take my pans, my equipment, I go in and bang, bang, bang, gone. I’m in and out. I’m usually cleaned up and out before they’ve even eaten their main. I’m not interested in being mates. I’ve got zero interest in annoying you for three hours.’
The first dish he ever cooked for the Belgian was a spaghetti carbonara cooked in beetroot juice. ‘He had a game the next day and I got told by the City nutritionist that it was great for exercise performance, so I cooked it in it and made it look like cherry laces,’ says Marsh.
They all have their favourites. Liverpool midfielder Jones loves his pesto pasta. ‘Anything pesto, Curtis Jones,’ he says. He also devours protein and banana pancakes for breakfast.
Hojlund, who Marsh says was a ‘delight to work with’, loved his steak.
Kevin De Bruyne’s beetroot carbonara, as prepared by chef Marsh
Former City midfielder De Bruyne was the first to sample Marsh’s cooking
Former City defender Walker once told Marsh he had to make him a cake once a week, so he catered for the defender’s love of chocolate by baking healthy brownies.
Most of his clients love chicken tikka masala. They have all tucked into a salmon superfood salad.
The night before a game, many will ask for a rice pudding. For those driving long distances to training, a cured salmon, cream cheese and pickled union bagel.
He’s put most of these recipes, and more, into his debut cookbook The Private Chef: Everyday Cooking, which is out next month. Even if doesn’t make you play like De Bruyne, at least you can eat like him.
At one stage, Marsh was cooking fresh for four Premier League players in the same night – Shaw, Christian Eriksen, Vitalii Mykolenko and Ian Maatsen – whizzing from house to house.
‘Christian was always first,’ he says. ‘He liked to eat early because he had kids then Ian wasn’t even 100 yards down the road. That was a lifesaver.
‘So I had two done before 6.30pm. Luke Shaw liked to eat at 7pm and then Vitalii Mykolenko used to eat late, which was perfect.’
Marsh’s culinary journey started aged 14 when he started giving up his weekends to work for free for super chef Blanc before joining the team at his famous Michelin-starred restaurant Le Manoir.
Marsh made a healthy brownie for former City defender Kyle Walker, who told the chef he wanted a cake once a week
The Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings knows his food and will chat to Marsh about recipes
He opened a pop-up restaurant in Manchester with his friend in his early 20s, boosted by a mate’s viral blog, before travelling the Mediterranean as a private chef on a wealthy family’s superyacht.
After sending out hundreds of emails on his return, the only one that replied was Manchester City. That’s when the Kevin call arrived. Marsh needed to be a bit flexible with the truth when De Bruyne asked if he’d been a private chef for many celebrities before him.
‘Oh loads, I’ve got a who’s who of people I’ve cooked for,’ Marsh replied, before saying what set him apart was how differently he cooked things to other private chefs. De Bruyne said, ‘That’s great, can you start on Monday?’
Marsh quickly went home and did some brainstorming. When he flicked on a YouTube video that talked about the benefits of cooking meat ‘sous vide’, vacuum-sealed in a water bath, because it always came out the same and didn’t touch butter, salt or sugars, his USP was found.
While De Bruyne and Gundogan were his first clients, Marsh hails John Terry as the man who sent his business into orbit. Terry got in touch after Marsh did a video for BBC Sport about individuals who worked behind the scenes with footballers: hairdressers, boot painters… private chefs.
‘John was the guy that made it clinical,’ says Marsh. ‘How things were prepped, how things were cooked, how things were packaged, how things were stored, how things were delivered. He liked things weighed out and labelled.
‘He’d FaceTime me every night to ask how heating instructions were done. He always said to me, “We’re part of the one per cent club, Jonny. It’s all about the one per cent”.’
Once Terry started posting about him on social media, the requests came pouring in. Marsh now has more than 850,000 followers on his own social media with his ‘Day in the Life’ videos offering a glimpse into cooking for Premier League stars.
At one point Marsh was cooking for four footballers, Christian Eriksen, Luke Shaw, Vitalii Mykolenko and Ian Maatsen, in one night
John Terry would FaceTime Marsh every night to ask about heating his meals correctly
So, of all his famous clients, who was the fussiest eater? ‘Aaron Ramsey (the Burnley midfielder). I don’t even think he’ll mind me digging him out.
‘For the first year, it was very much mash, meat and veg… at a push. Or curry, rice, naan bread. He was religiously stuck in his ways. It got to a point when I said I wanted a bit of freedom to experiment.
‘All of a sudden it went from one day a week where I could experiment to three days to, for the final year and a half, he’d say he didn’t even need to know what I was cooking. What he wouldn’t eat from when I started to what we were eating when I finished with him, you wouldn’t even think it was the same person.’
The most adventurous? That’s easy too. ‘Ilkay. He was the easiest person to cook for. He ate everything but coriander and peppers. He wanted it different every day.’
It was with Gundogan that Marsh enjoyed his closest relationship. ‘I never eat with players. I’ve never eaten with a player except Ilkay. When you do six years with someone, I knew everything about him, he knew everything about me.
‘That man loves football, all he did was play Football Manager,’ adds Marsh. ‘He was obsessed with it. I am so happy he’s at Galatasaray. We used to talk about him playing for Galatasaray almost daily. That’s his team, he’s supported them his whole life. I’m so happy he’s gone there.’
The stories keep coming faster than a Japanese meal. ‘There was a time Ilkay had one of his best mates over, who used to say he can eat loads. I was like, “You can’t eat more than me”.
‘So Ilkay bet us both that whoever could eat the most McChicken Sandwiches in an hour would win a pair of his Yeezys. I ate 10, he ate 11.’
Marsh cooked for Paul Pogba on his birthday and says the party was wild. ‘I remember just standing back, watching and thinking: no one would believe me,’ he says
There was also the time Marsh cooked a fruity Dutch cream cake called a slagroomtaart for De Bruyne’s birthday.
Tyrone Mings was so knowledgeable about food, Marsh had to put the phone call on loud speaker while he strolled along the river with his wife because it felt like talking to another chef.
And there was an unnamed player who demanded Marsh’s BBQ chicken tenders, a cheat meal, so frequently that Marsh had to show him the recipe to convince him that it was probably for the best if they cut down on it a little.
The best one, though, is kept for last. At the end of our hour-long conversation, Marsh remembers the tale that still makes him shake his head in disbelief.
‘Paul Pogba’s birthday, I’ll always remember that.’
Go on… ‘He rented a full floor of a hotel in Manchester. It was wild. I cooked for him and his wife in this room. In the middle of serving the main, this enormous African band with drums and instruments come flying into the room.
‘They were so loud, the walls were shaking. Pogba’s wife was dancing on the chair with Paul. I can’t tell you how deafening it was, it would have filled a concert hall. I remember just standing back, watching and thinking: no one would believe me.’
The Private Chef: Everyday Cooking, published by Meze Publishing, is out on November 14
JONNY MARSH’S KEVIN CARBONARA
Prep time: 5 minutes | Cooking time: 20 minutes | Serves: 4
Ingredients
12 rashers streaky bacon
1 carton beetroot juice (approx. 1L)
350g linguine
4 eggs
3 egg yolks
175g pecorino, grated (plus extra to serve)
½ tsp black pepper
Method
Preheat the grill to 200ºc.
Place the bacon on a tray lined with greaseproof paper and grill until crispy.
Once cooked, transfer to a board and chop into small pieces. (I know this isn’t traditional, but I love getting bacon in every bite!)
Pour the beetroot juice into a pan and bring to the boil.
Add the linguine, ensuring it is fully submerged as it softens.
Cook for 10 minutes, or until al dente. You’ll notice the pasta turning a vibrant pink… it ends up looking like strawberry laces!
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, pecorino and black pepper. The mixture will look thick and slightly congealed but don’t worry, that’s normal!
Drain the pasta (reserving some of the beetroot juice) and immediately toss it into the cheese and egg mixture while still hot. This will create a creamy sauce without scrambling the eggs.
If the sauce feels too thick, add a little of the reserved beetroot juice to loosen it up.
Using tongs, twirl a portion of pasta inside a ladle to form a tight spiral, then place it in a bowl.
Top with extra pecorino and the crispy bacon.
