Former Manchester City youth player Reece Wabara, once tipped for greatness at the Etihad Stadium, walked away from football in his mid-20s and is now worth millions thanks to his fashion label. The 32-year-old made a single senior appearance for City on the final day of the 2010/11 season before loan spells at Ipswich Town, Oldham Athletic, Blackpool and Doncaster Rovers. He left City permanently in 2014, signing for Doncaster, and later had brief stints with Barnsley, Wigan and Bolton before retiring in 2017.
From Football to Fashion
Wabara channelled his energy into launching Maniere de Voir, a clothing brand that now generates approximately £35 million annually, according to The Sun. Its flagship store opened on London's Oxford Street in 2023. Reflecting on his football career during a December 2022 interview on the CEOCAST, Wabara admitted: "It's my fault, I was complacent, I didn't go hard enough. It was too easy up until 18, then everyone started to catch me up. I was the best player."
He added: "Everybody told me how good I was going to be, that I'd play for England, that I'd be Manchester City's next right-back. And I wasn't good enough and everybody caught me up." The turning point came during his time at Wigan, where despite earning a spot in the team of the year after promotion, management criticised his focus on business. "I knew I was playing a game of politics... I thought to myself, I can't have my future in someone else's hands," he said.
Choosing Business Over Football
Speaking on the High Performance podcast in 2020, Wabara explained his retirement decision at age 25 or 26. "I decided to completely stop because the business was doing really well and focus is important... I could have played in the Premier League but to be a Champions League, World Cup-winning footballer was low percentage. I had to make the logical choice." He added: "I already threw away a high level, prosperous career. I had a lot of talent and was touted to be x, y and z. I failed, I know how that felt and it's not going to happen again."
Despite his success, Wabara harbours no regrets but acknowledges what might have been. "If I could live life again, I'd be playing in the Champions League or Premier League now," he said. "At the same time, if I didn't have that failure or slight regret, I wouldn't have been able to achieve what I have now."
Romantic Links to Coronation Street Stars
During his early days at City, Wabara had brief relationships with two former Coronation Street actresses. In her memoir Head and Heart: Break-ups, Breakdowns and Being Rosie, Helen Flanagan revealed a short-lived romance with Wabara. She wrote: "I went out a few times with a Manchester City youth player called Reece Wabara who – and this is too funny – Brooke [Vincent] later ended up going out with." Flanagan described him as "gorgeous" but noted the relationship fizzled out. She added: "He's actually gone on to have a really successful career away from football with his clothing brand Maniere De Voir which has a flagship store on London's Oxford Street."
