A former Premier League player who gave up the game at just 31 is now living a totally different life after striking business gold. The midfielder represented Aston Villa during the 2019/20 season, making 10 appearances in England’s top flight. Before moving to Villa Park, he played for their arch rivals Birmingham City and established himself as a top player in the lower leagues with Brentford.

The player failed to score in the Premier League, with his only goal for Villa coming in a Carabao Cup victory over Brighton. He was released at the end of his first season before signing a one-year deal with Spanish side Alaves. In a surprising turn of events, he decided to retire at only 31 years old, citing a lack of motivation to continue his career.

The player in question is Jota, who invested in an agricultural technology company after ditching football. He is the founder and chief executive of GROINN, which is expected to be worth billions by the end of this year.

The company has grown exponentially since its foundation and was on the verge of signing a lucrative contract with the Spanish government in 2024.

According to the Daily Mail, the business could skyrocket in value to a mind-boggling £2.9billion before the year is out.

The company has created a solar-powered smart device which captures data gathered by sensors in the earth to give farmers vital information about soil quality, weather conditions and other factors affecting crop growth.

At the end of his playing career, Jota was encouraged to make an investment into Ramalloc Innovation, which later became part of GROINN in an attempt to upscale its operation.

Speaking to The Athletic last year, Jota said: “The value of the company is now worth 10 times more than the money I invested.

“I am already taking offers, but I know they won’t even be one per cent of its value in three years. We are in negotiations with a lot of governments around the world because they want the technology, and we are industry leaders.”

In spite of his company’s success, the notion of Jota being a billionaire appears to be wide of the mark. Earlier this year, he claimed that he was unable to fulfil a child support agreement to pay his ex-wife 15,000 euros (£13,016) per month.

During an appearance on Spanish television show De Viernes, he said: “I no longer have a salary and I no longer have the monthly cash to spend 15,000 euros a month.

“I’ve been paying for the apartment, the schools. I continued to take care of that, but there came a time when it started to affect my cash flow. I have paid the children’s support every month.”