Jota: The ex-Birmingham City winger who is now super rich | OneFootball

Few professional footballers leave the game and manage to make even more money, but this former Aston Villa and Birmingham attacker is one of the luck

After taking in spells at Brentford, Birmingham City and Aston Villa, Spanish attacker Jota managed to bank himself even more money.

The winger was never likely to be short of a few pounds after taking in successful Championship spells with Brentford and Birmingham, and a slightly less fortuitous stint with Aston Villa in the Premier League.

But what he has done with that money since retiring in 2022 is remarkable.

Once destined to become just another former footballer, with more than a little sprinkle of ‘Streets Won’t Forget’ to him, Jota can now count himself among the super-rich.

Jota earned his initial funds through solid Championship output

Having caught the attention of Brentford when playing in the lower reaches of the Spanish pyramid, he transferred to the Bees in 2014 from Celta Vigo for an undisclosed fee.

He didn’t disappoint, notching 11 goals and registering three assists, a form he would recreate a couple of seasons later for the Bees.

His showings for the west London outfit prompted a club-record bid from Birmingham.

The Spaniard didn’t quite hit the heights of his Brentford days at St. Andrew’s, but seven and 12-goal involvements in consecutive seasons were enough to prompt a promotion to the Premier League, via a move across the second-city divide to Aston Villa.

Villa was the beginning of the end of Jota’s football career

The pinnacle of English football proved to be a step too far for the attacker, reduced to just 16 appearances in total for the Villans, before the club and player mutually agreed to terminate his deal a little over a year after signing.

He returned to Spain to give his football career one last chance, pitching up with Deportivo Alaves, but made just 25 appearances there, registering two La Liga assists, before hanging up his boots.

In October 2022, he officially retired from football, closing the book on a career that would be remembered fondly in certain pockets of England and Spain.

He would have banked enough to live a comfortable life, maybe alongside one of the regular post-playing-career moves like media or coaching, but Jota did much more than that.

Retirement from football kick-started Jota’s biggest impact on the world

The former Blues attacker is the founder and CEO of agricultural technology firm Groinn, having been encouraged to come on board by friends and finally accepting the invitation once he’d hung up his boots.

The firm’s technology is in use across the world, from Jota’s homeland, Spain, to Belgium, the Netherlands and even in Saudi Arabia.

It creates solar-powered tech to provide farmers information they need about soil, weather and other such conditions, to reduce their costs and increase the money to be earned from their farming.

“The past few months have been absolutely crazy in terms of professional growth,” said Jota, as relayed by the Daily Mail. “The speed at which we are moving sometimes doesn’t even allow us to fully grasp everything we’re achieving.”

That feels something of an understatement, given the newspaper reports that the company’s valuation is set to hit £3billion next year.

While it’s not known exactly how much of Groinn Jota currently owns, he is reportedly a heavy investor and a key player in the business, so should it go on to be sold, he’s in line for a significant windfall.