Aston Villa and former
Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers stopper Brad Friedel has been
declared bankrupt after racking up debts at his US football
academy.
The big American owes the backer of his Ohio-based academy
almost £5million, prompting a hearing at a county court in
Britain.
A judge at Macclesfield County Court declared Friedel bankrupt
after representations from bank RBS Citizens.
However, a source close to Friedel labelled the bankruptcy order
a ‘technicality’ and said it would be annulled at a further hearing
next week.
The former USA international is expected to repay the £5million,
appeasing RBS Citizens, the American subsidiary of the
government-owned British bank.
The source said: “This debt will be repaid soon and then we
expect an annulment.
“In the meantime, Brad is not insolvent and is not struggling
with money.”
In 2006, he began work on a £4.2million state-of-the-art football
academy in Cleveland, Ohio, which opened a year later.
The academy is run on a not-for-profit basis and is designed to
offer under-privileged youngsters opportunities within the
game.