When a Premier League player wants a car, Riccardo Leighton sorts it.
The list of names he’s worked with down the years would give any team a run for their money: Harry Kane, John Terry, Kyle Walker, Paul Pogba, John Stones, Bruno Fernandes, Eberechi Eze, Leroy Sane, Georginio Wijnaldum, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Diogo Dalot, Viktor Gyokeres, Antony, Trevoh Chalobah, Sam Johnstone, Yannick Bolasie, and so on. You get the point.
Since 2016, Leighton has sourced, financed, delivered and helped customise cars for the game’s elite, though he focuses on the first two these days with his company, Ultra Vita. The most expensive he’s dealt with has been a £1.2million Bugatti – though players need to be wary of being flashy above their station.
‘I remember one player buying a Lamborghini when he was 19,’ says Leighton. ‘He drove it to the training ground and got told by the club that he had to sell it! But he was upside down in the deal so he was paying that off for a couple of years.’
Other players pimp their rides, with requests for fittings including PlayStations and coffee machines. But the most dedicated see their daily commute as a time to enhance their performance.
‘We’ve had a few Mercedes V-Class cars where they will kit out the inside with recovery sleeves for the players’ legs while they sit in the back,’ Leighton reveals. ‘A couple of players have asked for ice recovery machines to be installed (sleeves that act as cold compresses to reduce swelling and inflammation).’
Riccardo Leighton’s job is to source and finance cars for footballers (pictured with Harry Kane)
One of his most recent clients was Arsenal’s £64million summer signing Viktor Gyokeres
Leighton has been in the game for around a decade and says treating footballers (such as John Terry, right) as regular blokes is the way to go
Leighton’s success reveals something about footballers’ personalities: most of them just want to be treated like regular blokes.
‘I just treat them normally and that appeals to them,’ he explains. ‘It’s not, “Can I have a picture?” all the time. Obviously there’s a few for the company’s social media.
‘You can get close to the players and speak with them on a normal basis. I’ve played golf and padel with a few. Tom Huddlestone is one of the best at golf that I’ve played with.
‘Getting a car is a hassle so I handle it all for them. Instead of them going to their local dealership and getting mobbed, I’ll find what they want, send them all the options and sort the paperwork. I’m honest with them on the finance side. That’s where I build that trust with them.’
It helps that he’s able to speak their language. Leighton is a former youth prospect, having been with Nottingham Forest as a kid.
In his teenage years, a Manchester United scout spotted him in an exhibition game at Meadow Lane and set him up on a Youth Training Scheme at Welsh club TNS, with a view to joining the Red Devils’ set-up if he progressed well. But fate had other ideas.
‘I did my knee in my second year of living away,’ he says. ‘I was 17 when I first did my ACL and then I did my cartilage. I retired at 19. I had four operations and by the age of 25, I had the knee of a 40-year-old!’
Things often have a way of working themselves out. Leighton’s misfortune eventually led to him meeting former West Ham striker Marlon Harewood, while playing local football in Nottinghamshire.
Leighton learned the trade under Marlon Harewood, the former West Ham striker who started customising cars for footballers
Former Manchester United winger Antony gave Leighton a signed shirt after he helped the Brazilian buy a Lamborghini Aventador
Leighton sorts all the hassle for players, meaning they don’t get mobbed looking for cars
Since retiring, Harewood had pivoted into customising cars with his company AC13 Premier. That’s how Leighton got his break. The duo worked together at a time when Harewood’s business, which he co-owned, was booming with custom from elite stars. Whatever the players wanted doing, AC13 would find a way.
Leighton has built up an enviable book of phone numbers. ‘I’ve probably got a contact in most football clubs up and down the leagues,’ he says. ‘One of the biggest things for me is word of mouth between players. And when I was doing the Viktor Gyokeres deal, I bumped into another player because he was viewing a house next door! So then I spoke to him.’
Helping names from mainland Europe is a good source of income. ‘A few players bring their cars over from abroad, which are left-hand drives. I remember shipping Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot’s cars over from Portugal and delivering them to them at the Manchester United training ground. In the summer, they ship the cars back to their homes over there.’
Antony was so pleased with his £337,000 Lamborghini Aventador in 2022 that he gifted Leighton a signed United shirt.
If the car wizard had had more luck with his knee, maybe he would have been the one dishing out the signed shirts. But Leighton has stumbled across a job that suits him to a tee – and he’s keen to use his own story to guide young athletes.
‘I do use my experience in my talks with young players,’ he concludes. ‘It’s a good point to show them to have something else to fall back on in their lives, as football can change so quickly.’
