BIG-TIME CHARLIE
I was the ball boy ex-Chelsea star Eden Hazard kicked… now I’m worth £40m aged 27 and on Times Rich list
Ronaldinho and Mayweather have endorsed his product
CHARLIE MORGAN has come a long way since being kicked by Eden Hazard after reuniting with the former Chelsea star.
Since the infamous altercation 11 years ago, he has made a name for himself away from football is worth £40million.
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As a 17-year-old back in 2013, the youngster attempted to waste time during Swansea's League Cup semi-final second leg against the Blues.
Charlie shielded the ball from Hazard as it rolled out for a corner.
Chelsea were 2-0 down from the first leg and with just ten minutes left of the game, panic set in.
Hazard's frustration at the state of play and Charlie's antics led to him kicking the teenager as he tried to get the ball off him.
The Belgian was shown a red card for violent conduct and Swansea went on to knock Chelsea out - before lifting the League Cup thanks to a 5-0 win over Bradford in the final at Wembley.
Eleven years on, the pair reunited this week, with Hazard sharing a snap with his "old friend" to social media.
Toasting the occasion with a drink, the Belgian captioned the post: "A nice thing about retirement is catching up with old friends.
"You have come a long way in 11 years my friend."
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Charlie has made a name for himself outside of that bizarre moment with Hazard.
He now has a thriving vodka company called Au Vodka, which he set up in 2016 alongside school friend Jackson Quinn.
They were steadily increasing their sales but in December 2019 really began to take off when they shifted 10,000 bottles of black grape vodka in a single month.
And Charlie's empire saw him named on the Sunday Times Rich List for 2022.
The young entrepreneur's father is Martin Morgan - Swansea City FC director and owner of Morgan's Hotel.
But Charlie has certainly made a name for himself - with a host of celebrities pictured endorsing his product.
Among them is ex-footballer Ronaldinho, club owner Wayne Lineker, and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather.
Charlie has even claimed that Mayweather got in contact with the business.
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Speaking to WalesOnline in 2021, he said: “We got a contact for Floyd - through a mutual friend of Frost the music producer - and we were told that Floyd absolutely loves the brand and loved the black grape flavour.
"We were asked whether he could have few bottles before he goes home.
"We said yeah, OK sure, and Floyd said he would post a photo on Instagram as long as we included him when we do something big in America.
"Back years ago we were asking ourselves, who would be the best ambassador we could have holding the bottle and I think our answer was Floyd, so it's amazing how it has manifested itself.
"Seeing the brand in the hands of someone you admire is crazy."
Au Vodka now produce 35,000 bottles PER DAY, although Morgan has admitted a couple of flavours really did not work out.
The manuka honey and chocolate orange flavours were both discontinued as they did not taste nice, while Charlie himself labelled a banana one "particularly disgusting".
But that has not stopped the business from continuing to grow.
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That being said, Morgan, now valued at £40m, is still some way off the net worth of Hazard - who he had that famous altercation with all those years ago.
As for Hazard, who is estimated to have a £80m fortune, the Belgium legend hung up his boots following his release from Real Madrid in October 2023.