Premier League star was at centre of alleged extortion plot before friend was shot

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Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey was targeted by a criminal who allegedly tried to extort him by threatening his family and shooting a close childhood friend. Brobbey joined Sunderland from Ajax in the summer in a move which took him away from a traumatic period in Amsterdam.

Sunderland landed the Dutchman in a £21.5million deal on transfer deadline day in September. The move came just a few months after Brobbey's nightmare became public knowledge in the Netherlands.

Over the previous two and half years the 24-year-old, his family and friends had been targeted by a notorious Amsterdam gangster. The perpetrator, known only as Jeymon A in Dutch court documents, has been jailed for 10 years for the attempted manslaughter of Brobbey’s friend, as well as possession of a firearm and illegal drugs. Brobbey has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

While he has never been charged with the alleged extortion of Brobbey, The Athletic has used reporting by Dutch newspaper Het Parool and publicly available documents to explain the extent of the case surrounding the Sunderland striker.

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Brobbey grew up in Zuidoost, a suburb of Amsterdam, and while attending a music festival called Valhalla in December 2022, he was approached by Jeymon A. The criminal allegedly told Brobbey that gangsters in Utrecht had been looking for him and he had solved the problem and therefore needed paying.

The footballer, who had recently returned to boyhood club Ajax from RB Leipzig, did not pay up and intimidation tactics then allegedly followed. Fireworks were dropped through the letterbox of his mother-in-law's home, an explosive was thrown at Brobbey's car and his sister-in-law had her car set on fire.

Later, Brobbey's childhood friend arranged to meet with Jeymon A and was shot in the buttock and small intestine. He needed emergency surgery to save his life and later messaged a friend to say he “took a bullet for him (Brobbey)."

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Not long after the shooting, Brobbey received a message telling him he had to pay €150,000 (£130,000) or “we’re going to do it differently”. There is no evidence that he paid up.

During this terrifying ordeal, Brobbey did his best to keep things under wraps and away from his day job. He continued scoring goals for Ajax and Jeymon A was arrested on unrelated drug dealing charges, for which he received a nine-year prison sentence in September 2024. He later received another sentence for the shooting of Brobbey's friend.

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Jeymon A's lawyer Veerle Hammerstein said: “As Het Parool knows, my client was convicted of a shooting incident in 2023 and two other facts, which are not related to this incident. An appeal has been lodged against this ruling but a substantive hearing has not yet been scheduled.

“Although the blackmail of Brian Brobbey is mentioned in the file as a possible reason for this shooting incident, further investigation by the police has not yielded any evidence that my client was involved. He was never prosecuted for this type of extortion practice.”

Brobbey has been a key player for Sunderland this season, contributing five goals in 21 Premier League appearances. The Black Cats sit 11th in the table following the promotion from the Championship and Brobbey is targeting a place in the Netherlands squad for the World Cup this summer, having not played for his country since 2023.

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