What do footballers count to help them go to sleep? Goals? Ferraris? WAGs? How about spots on the wall? Manchester City players will be escorted to dreamland at their new training facility by special sleep-inducing wallpaper. “The Premier League stars will drift off to the sight of walls patterned with light green ever-decreasing circles,” according to The Daily Mail. As well as relaxing wallpaper, “£150,000 ($223,000) has been spent on special mattresses and luxurious pillows.”
The City Football Academy (situated beside the club’s stadium) was built at a cost of £200 million and boasts pool tables and arcade games. Defender Pablo Zabaleta says “it’s better than being in a hotel. It’s more private here, we don’t see people around – it’s more comfortable for the team. The facilities – the dressing room, the spa, even the canteen is fantastic – everything you can imagine is there,” before adding a comment that he can only hope Christel Castano doesn’t read,”as a player you come here each day thinking: ‘I’d rather be here than my house!”
