Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel has been declared bankrupt despite being paid over £40,000-a-week – according to a report in the Daily Mirror.
The ruling was made at Macclesfield county court after Friedel's US football academy ran up debts of close to £5 million.
Friedel set up the 28-acre not-for-profit 'Premier Soccer Academy' in his native Ohio back in 2007.
However, sponsors have since dropped out of the project and trainees have baulked at the £20,000-a-year fee for the Academy that aims to train players for European football.
Lender RBS Citizens then took action in the US and court documents showed that last August Friedel and his company owed nearly £5m.
The academy is in Lorain County, and their website lists more than £250,000 in unpaid property taxes relating to the academy.
Last month, repossession proceedings also began on a £260,000 house owned by the former American international in Ohio.
A spokesperson for the former is Friedel quoted in the Mirror as saying: "This is a technical bankruptcy and it is not anticipated that it will be in place for long as an application for an annulment will be submitted in the next few days.
"Arrangements are in place to deal with the issues which gave rise to the bankruptcy."
Friedel has been an ever present in the Villa team this season, but the 39-year-old is out of contract in the summer.
He signed for Liverpool in 1997 and was at Anfield for three seasons. He then enjoyed eight years at Blackburn before moving on to Villa in 2008.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/21012011/58/premier-league-villa-keeper-friedel-declared-bankrupt.html
