90% LTV transaction completed ahead of international transfer

Henry Dannell Private Clients has structured a £5.22 million mortgage at 90% loan-to-value (LTV) for an international professional footballer relocating to the UK to join an English Premier League club ahead of the 2026/27 season.

The player, who is in his early 20s, was relocating from Europe having signed a new six-year contract representing a significant increase in earnings. Ahead of the move, he sought to purchase a £5.8 million UK residence while limiting the amount of personal capital committed to the transaction.

At the point of application, the client remained based overseas and had not yet commenced his new Premier League contract. The lending therefore needed to account for a material change in both his circumstances and future income.

The client was also seeking 90% LTV borrowing, with the remaining £580,000 required for the purchase funded through an existing credit facility with a Swiss private bank.

Henry Dannell structured the £5.22 million mortgage across three components to reflect the client’s income profile and the term of his new contract. This comprised £3.48 million on an interest-only basis over 13 years, £290,000 on an interest-only basis over one year, and £1.45 million on a capital repayment basis over six years.

The structure enabled the client to complete the £5.8 million purchase ahead of his relocation while limiting the immediate deployment of personal capital.

The enduring pull of London and the Premier League

The transaction comes after several years of political and economic uncertainty in the UK. Yet London, and the Premier League in particular, continue to attract internationally mobile talent to the country.

Despite the unrest and uncertainty of the past few years, London still has an incredibly strong pull internationally. The Premier League is a clear example of that, continuing to attract some of the world’s leading talent to the UK.

There are very few places that can compete with what the UK offers at the highest level of football. The Premier League has extraordinary global reach, but this goes beyond what happens on the pitch. Players are coming here with their families, buying homes, establishing roots and building their lives in the UK.

That is a positive story for the country and one we should be talking about more. At a time when there has been considerable debate around the UK’s ability to attract international wealth and talent, the Premier League continues to demonstrate the strength of that appeal.

These are internationally mobile individuals who could build their lives in many different places. The fact that some of the world’s leading footballers continue to come here, invest here and make the UK their home speaks volumes about what this country still has to offer.

Structuring around the wider financial picture

For incoming international players, however, relocating to the UK can create a lending profile that does not fit neatly within conventional mortgage criteria.

In this instance, the client remained overseas and had yet to commence the contract that would materially increase his earnings. At the same time, he was seeking a 90% LTV mortgage and using an existing Swiss private bank facility to provide the remaining capital required for the purchase.

The challenge was therefore not simply the amount of borrowing required. It was how the client’s future contracted earnings, international relocation and wider banking arrangements could be presented as one coherent lending proposition.

Rather than approaching the borrowing as a single requirement, Henry Dannell structured the mortgage across three components, allowing different elements of the debt to be aligned with the client’s anticipated income profile and the term of his new contract.

The remaining £580,000 was provided through the client’s existing Swiss private bank credit facility, enabling the purchase to proceed without requiring the client to deploy the full deposit from personal capital.

The transaction reflects a wider feature of complex lending, where a client’s circumstances at the point of application do not always represent the financial position they are moving into. In these cases, the role of the adviser is to interpret the wider financial picture and present it in a way that lenders can assess appropriately.

Transaction overview

• Property value: £5.8 million
• Mortgage: £5.22 million
• Loan-to-value: 90%
• £3.48 million: Interest-only over 13 years
• £290,000: Interest-only over one year
• £1.45 million: Capital repayment over six years
• Deposit funding: £580,000 through an existing Swiss private bank credit facility
• Client: International professional footballer relocating to join an English Premier League club