Middlesbrough signed star for £9m - he's now got a net worth of over £250m | OneFootball

The unlikely story of a Boro man who ended up at Barcelona, with some intriguing business ventures along the way.

The path from Middlesbrough to Barcelona is not a well-trodden one, with only two players having made the journey from Teesside to the Spanish coast.

Adama Traoré is the most recent player to do so, having signed for the Catalan club on loan in 2022 after stints with Boro and Wolves.

There have also been a couple who made the reverse journey, with Gaizka Mendieta flourishing on Teesside, while Damia Abella is a name unlikely to mean much to the average fan.

However, the most intriguing story belongs to Martin Braithwaite, who struggled at Middlesbrough before a skip over to Spain took him to one of the greatest clubs in world football and an unlikely business venture.

Inside Martin Braithwaite's business ventures

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In 2017, Braithwaite joined Middlesbrough from Toulouse for a reported £9million, but that was not the only new route the striker took that year.

Off the pitch, the Dane invested in US real estate with his uncle, Philip Michael, with Forbes reporting that an initial investment of $850,000 grew into a portfolio of around 1,500 properties, focusing on markets in Philadelphia and New Jersey - his net worth is now amazingly an estimated £250 million.

Two years later, Braithwaite and his wife, Anne-Laure, became involved with Trente, a French women's clothing brand based in Toulouse, where he used to reside.

After securing a surprise move to Barcelona from CD Leganés in 2020, the Denmark international then delved into the food industry with his wife, opening a vegetarian restaurant called Iguana in Gava near the city.

The forward moved across the city to sign for Espanyol in 2023 and opened Braithwaite's Kitchen, a company designed to invest in hospitality, restaurants, catering and food delivery in Catalonia.

Braithwaite then took his Barcelona operation to Brazil after signing for Gremio in the summer of 2024, opening Playa Paris, a brunch and cocktail bar in Porto Alegre.

Martin Braithwaite's Middlesbrough woes

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Braithwaite arrived at the Riverside in 2017 with an encouraging record from his time in France, notching 11 league goals in each of his last two Ligue 1 seasons for Toulouse.

After playing 90 minutes on his Championship debut against Wolves alongside Britt Asombalonga, the Dane was then absent for a run of eight league games with a muscle injury.

However, the forward found his scoring boots upon his return, netting three in his next six against Brentford, Barnsley and Hull City, but after Gary Monk was sacked, with Tony Pulis replacing him, Branthwaite left on loan to get regular football ahead of the 2018 World Cup.

The striker played 19 games the following season and racked up a total of nine goals on Teesside before sealing a switch to Leganés, where he continued his modest scoring record in front of goal - and Braithwaite could not have seen what was about to happen next.

How Martin Braithwaite ended up at Spanish giants Barcelona

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Braithwaite's career trajectory was going as expected until an unlikely turn of events took him to Barcelona.

In late February 2020, Barça were dealt a cruel injury blow as Ousmane Dembélé was ruled out for six months, and the club were allowed to make an emergency signing.

The La Liga outfit then completed the signing of Braithwaite for £15m, with the Denmark international securing a four-year contract at Camp Nou.

Despite making 29 league appearances in his debut campaign, with a good chunk of them starts, he only managed two goals as Atlético Madrid stunned everyone by winning the title, ending a seven-year drought.

Braithwaite scored 10 in 58 appearances for Barcelona and, following his best goalscoring spell with Espanyol, where he scored 22 goals in the second tier of Spanish football, he is now plying his trade with Porto Alegre outfit Gremio in Brazil at the ripe old age of 35.

The veteran forward scored 15 times in all competitions for Gremio in 2025, but goals in 2026 have been few and far between - thankfully, when his on-pitch days come to an end in the near future, the Dane has plenty of off-field business interests to keep himself busy.