Ex-Birmingham City and Aston Villa flop on verge of billionaire status four years after Premier League exit

Former Aston Villa forgotten man Jota is on course to becoming a billionaire following an incredible career switch.

In 2019, the Spaniard made the controversial switch across Birmingham, leaving the Blues to join Villa in the Premier League. Jota ultimately proved a disaster at Villa Park and his contract was terminated after 16 months, with him making just 16 appearances.

An underwhelming campaign in La Liga at Alaves forced Jota into an early retirement at 31 despite receiving offers from the Middle East. But the decision to hang up his boots early has proven a masterstroke as the former midfielder is on the brink of billionaire status.

After leaving football, Jota set up his own business, Groinn, an agricultural technology company. Its leading product is a device which uses sensors to allow farmers to manage the status of their crops.

Speaking to The Athletic, the former Birmingham City and Villa man revealed the company is expecting third-year profits of £3billion once their planned expansion into Europe, the US and Asia goes ahead. Groinn - whose flagship technology is priced at a modest £175 - currently has deals in place with the Spanish government.

​​"We are like the iPhone,” Jota said. “Before that, you had letters, fax machines and telephones, but the iPhone puts it all into one and doesn’t cost too much and will be better quality. We did the same in agriculture with all technology on one machine.

"The value of the company is now worth 10 times more than the money I invested. I am already taking offers, but I know they won’t even be one per cent of its value in three years.

"We are in negotiations with a lot of governments around the world because they want the technology and we are industry leaders. We are talking to big companies in America and we are moving quicker than we thought."