Premier League footballers are increasingly turning to private chefs to prepare their dinners, and they’re not as strict as you might think about what they can eat.
Erling Haaland recently gave fans an insight into his life on his YouTube channel, describing a visit to a local farm store to buy steak, raw milk and honey. But the Manchester City striker, who likes to eat 6,000 calories a day and make fun of his heart and liver, is in many ways an exception to the norm among Premier League players.
Most people do not play an active role in procuring or preparing food. Elite soccer players are always highly paid, but they are often short on time and require nutritious meals. This combination has created an industry that fills a need.
Personal chefs have been around for a long time, but personal chefs catering to players, especially in football, are on the rise, especially in niche areas. Whether it’s coming to a player’s home to cook a family dinner or preparing a meal they can cook themselves by thinking of a fancy HelloFresh or Gusto box, a private chef is there to help players with their energy.
One person who knows all about this is Tommy Cole, who has been a private chef for seven years and started working full-time for footballers in London this year. Tommy has a clientele of Premier League players, one of whom he cooks for on weekday evenings, and regularly prepares meals for five others.
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He documents his cooking on his social media accounts. Nutrition is important for top athletes, but it turns out they can also enjoy the eye-catching and delicious dishes you’d expect from a private chef, such as chicken breast with chicken bonbons, chicken jus, charred corn, corn puree, garlic mashed potatoes, and bao buns with duck, shrimp, pickled vegetables and coleslaw.
Tommy previously worked as a private chef around the world, where his work often varied widely. He is currently in contact with the nutritionist at the Premier League club where his client plays, as he needs to balance taste and nutrition.
“This can be a bit difficult because there are two schools of thought. One is the chef’s brain, which wants to make it as delicious as possible by using more butter, etc., but the nutritionist’s brain wants to consider the client’s goals,” he tells Mirror Football. “You definitely get that balance where the food is really tasty and top quality but still healthy. Also, when you’re eating food day in and day out, most people don’t want something really rich.”
Tommy’s main clientele is relaxed when it comes to the menu, so there’s plenty of opportunity to utilize the chef’s flair. But much of the ingenuity comes from trying to find ways to incorporate ingredients that align with the end goal.
“The players are at the club for most of the day and eat the majority of their meals, which are managed by the club, usually just dinner, prepared by themselves, their families and the chef,” he explains.
“Ultimately the athlete is my client, so I make what he wants, but it’s with the nutritionist’s input. Unless the athlete specifically asks me to make something that goes against the nutritionist’s opinion, it will usually be in line with the nutritionist’s guidelines.”
That doesn’t mean fish and rice cakes, like the internet-famous amateur bodybuilders. Instead, it means a wide range of meals, from teriyaki duck leg confit with edamame, apasagas and noodles to carb-heavy Korean fried rice with gochujang, vegetables and shrimp the night before a game.
“It’s more common now, especially since COVID-19,” Tommy says of his job. “For athletes, it’s been around for a while, but I think there’s been a lot of development in the world of sports nutrition over the last 20 years or so, and it’s become more commonplace in part because there’s been a lot more awareness of nutrition for performance and athletes are more switched on.”
Thankfully for elite soccer players, it led to delicious and nutritious meals.
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