The amount of money in professional sport has come a long way since the early 1970s when footballer George Best said: “I spent 90% of my money on women and drink. The rest is just wasted.”

With more than 500 footballers in the Premiership, earning an average of £1.2m (€1.4m) a year, according to a study of football finance by Deloitte - in addition to the millions on offer in other sports such as tennis and golf - professional sports is one of the few industries where as many young professionals can earn as much money as quickly as in the City of London.