Thomas Gravesen has kept a low profile since retiring from professional football in 2008, but the former midfielder has certainly been busy.
The ex-Danish international, who was nicknamed “Mad Dog”, is a familiar face, having spent five years playing for Everton. He is also fondly remembered, if somewhat through slight bemusement, for joining Real Madrid at the height of the club’s Galatico era.
Gravesen was a solid defensive-minded midfielder, but to see him playing alongside the likes of Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo was slightly odd. After a year in Madrid, he moved to Celtic, where he won the Scottish Premiership title.
After collecting 66 caps for Denmark, he called time on his career in 2008, aged just 32. “I have had fantastic years abroad. I played and lived in four countries,” he said, perhaps in a nod to what he planned to do next.
Gravesen, who still speaks English with a Scouse accent due to his time in Liverpool, had dated Playboy model Kira Eggers between 2005 and 2008. But the next phase of his life, which the Danish tabloid press termed a “secret” one, revolved around his next partner.
During the end of his playing career, Gravesen met Czech-born model and real estate agent Kamila Persse. It was his relationship with her which took him to Las Vegas.
The 47-year-old had planned for the future, investing some of the earnings from football, which reached £85,000 per week at Real, into businesses. That meant he was able to up sticks and move to Nevada with Persse and her son from a previous relationship.
Danish tabloid BT claimed that Gravesen had been incredibly successful with his investments. He put the money, estimated to be around £100million, to good use, gambling in Las Vegas’ legendary casinos, where he developed a particular passion for poker.
He was reportedly a regular at Vegas’ high-roller poker tables, where he was able to go under the radar as a non-celebrity.
Gravesen and Persse lived the classic Vegas lifestyle. In August 2013 the couple bought a gigantic villa in a gated neighbourhood called The Canyon Fairways in the Summerlin area for $1.125million. It had 10 rooms, four bedrooms and seven bathrooms, as well as a swimming pool and a garage with space for three cars.
Their neighbours included the likes of legendary tennis players André Agassi and Steffi Graf and Hollywood royalty Nicolas Cage. The area is surrounded by expensive golf courses, including the TPC Las Vegas, Tournament Players Club Summerlin and Angel Park Golf Club.
Gravesen reportedly owned a Mercedes SLR McLaren – a sports car which can cost up to £400,000.
"There's a reason why he lives his life over there,” his friend Niclas Jensen told BT in 2016. “And it's not because I have to tell so much about it. But he seems happy and as if it works really well for him to live there.”
Persse continued to work as a real estate agent, while Gravesen worked from home, investing his money via a company he set up called Thomas Holdings. He used to fly back to Denmark every now and then, but was said to be content and not planning to move.
However, his luxurious lifestyle in Vegas did come to an end. In 2018 he moved back to Denmark after splitting from Persse. Luckily, he had somewhere pleasant to stay back in his home country.
Gravesen moved back into a £1.6m penthouse apartment he’d bought in 2010 in the exclusive residential property 'The White Facet' in his hometown of Vejle.
Gravesen no longer lives a secretive and luxurious life in Vegas. For the past few years he has been working as a pundit for Discovery, giving his expert opinion on Premier League matches and the Danish national team.
