Leicester City star James Maddison has shown off his new luxury garden, complete with a pool and private pitch.
The FA Cup winner has had a mini pitch with full-sized goals installed at his home, backing on to an outdoor seating area, barbecue and dining area, a gym and the new swimming pool.
He brought in a team from the Leicestershire-based Garden Design Company who spent months turning the design into a reality which, he said, had wowed all his friends.
Management at the garden design business, based in East Goscote, near Leicester, have spoken to other Premiership players on the back of Maddison’s recommendation.
The attacking midfielder said it was the perfect place to bring his family together or host parties for teammates who live in the area.
He said: “It’s just brilliant and I’m sure I’ll have some great memories to share over the years in the garden.
“If you look around and see the garden it’s everything I would have dreamed of having as a young boy, especially with the football pitch at the top.
“My love was always football and I’ve recently become a father to my little boy, so having the garden here is everything I would have wanted as a little boy myself – that opportunity to play on an actual pitch with a proper goal.
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“I couldn’t be happier with what the Garden Design Company did for me.
“It’s exactly how I wanted it – everything was perfect down to a T.
“It sounds silly but I used to have to use wooden sticks as goalposts and stuff, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it will just be a better opportunity for the little man in a few years’ time.”
The Garden Design Company had previously created a remembrance garden for Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha on the site next to the King Power Stadium where he died in a helicopter crash three years ago.
Maddison said: “Vichai’s garden at the stadium is such a beautiful thing.
“You can walk around it and almost be in awe at some of the stuff.
“A few people at the club had mentioned the company that did that, so when I was looking to get the garden done my thoughts went straight to them.
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“I couldn’t be happier with the outcome and the end product.
“The best time we’ve probably had in it was the opening group game of the Euros, so I had my friends round and we got good weather on the day so we could use the barbecue area.
“I looked around and can remember seeing my friends in the pool and a few of them were having a kick about and I thought “that’s exactly why I got it done”.
“I’ve even had a few other footballers from other teams asking me who did my garden.”
The Garden Design Company created a fly-through video as part of their pitch for the job then spent months doing the work at the player’s Nottinghamshire home.
Barry Randall, who runs the business with his brother Jeff, said: “James Maddison had bought a new house and wanted the outdoor space redesigning with its own football pitch.
“Leicester City got in touch and we put a design together for him and sent it over and it went from there.
“We did the work during the pandemic and finished the garden before he moved in.
“It’s a huge garden and we did a lot of work on the football pitch before the artificial grass went down.
“Other than the memorial garden at the club, this was the biggest job we’ve done.
“He was fantastic and really supportive of us as a local business.”
Mr Randall said on the back of the Maddison job the business – which employs about 30 people – had also done some landscaping work for Leicester City midfielder Marc Albrighton at his West Midlands home.
He said: “We’ve done some early designs for a couple of footballers through the work with James Maddison and we’ve had a lot of other interest.”