George Russell offered incredible Mercedes swap deal with approach made

Mark Scott
George Russell and Jack Grealish after Manchester City's Champions League trophy win. June 2023

George Russell and Jack Grealish after Manchester City's Champions League trophy win. June 2023

If George Russell ever fancies swapping his driving gloves for football boots, then he already has one offer on the table courtesy of his home town club.

Russell took full advantage of the mini-break between the Spanish and Canadian GPs by flying out to Turkey to watch Manchester City take on Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League final last weekend.

The Mercedes driver would then meet the victorious Manchester City players after the game, pictured with the likes of Jack Grealish who probably still hasn’t changed from his football kit yet.

But if Russell wants to swap the world of F1 for the world of football, he would have to work his way up through the ranks if he was ever to be team-mates with Grealish – something he would actually be willing to do.

Asked in an interview which club he would start his football career at, a dapper-looking Russell replied: “If I was a football player, the place where I would start my football career would be….King’s Lynn FC.”

This answer caught the attention of his home town team, who used their Twitter platform to reach out to Russell and put a cheeky offer on the table.

The tweet read: “You are more than welcome to come down and try out!”

But, with an estimated net worth of $16million, one King’s Lynn fan in the comments tried his luck in getting Russell to buy the team instead. Get your hand in your pocket, George!

Russell’s local team are currently looking to recover from the heartbreak they suffered during the 2022/2023 campaign in the National League North division, the sixth tier in the English football pyramid.

They finished the season in 2nd place, just two points behind league champions AFC Fylde and forced into the brutal play-off system to try and secure promotion to the National League.

After receiving a bye in the quarter-final stages, King’s Lynn would suffer a heavy 4-1 defeat at the hands of Kidderminster, who went on to beat Brackley Town in the final.

Russell revealed in an interview with the Gentleman’s Journal back in 2020 that he would have tried to pursue a career in football had he not gone down the path of karting and working his way up through the junior formulas.

“I think I’d be a footballer,” he said.

“I played for my local club when I was a child, my local town. I really enjoyed it. I only started karting when I was seven, and I still remember having to decide which route to go down.

“It was a really tough decision, especially as a child. There were definitely some tears. But I’ve always been competitive; I’d have always needed a sport to spur me on.”

Russell also admitted that his enthusiasm for F1 racing did start to diminish when he realised the enormity of the task facing him, making a comparison to his beloved football.

“It started to fade away a bit when I was around 16,” he added.

“I thought: ‘This is going to be a lot harder than I first thought’. I mean, the fact that there are only 20 Formula 1 drivers in the entire world? In football, you’ve got 20 players per team, 20 teams per league and you can play professionally all over the world. There are so many opportunities in other sports. In motorsport, there are not.

“And for every great driver that comes into Formula 1, another great driver has to leave. It’s ruthless.”

Just in case any of you reading were in the slightest bit concerned about Russell leaving Mercedes, PlanetF1.com understands the Silver Arrows recently triggered an extension clause to keep him at the team until at least the end of the 2025 campaign.