Bothroyd was a teammate of Gaddafi's son who 'carried cases of money' at Perugia

Just three years after leaving boyhood club Arsenal, Englishman Bothroyd took the then-fairly unprecedented step of trying a new challenge abroad with Serie A club Perugia.

He arrived in the summer of 2003 but the transfer was certainly lost in the hysteria of another arrival at Perugia - Al-Saadi Gaddafi, son of Libyan tyrant Colonel Gaddafi.

Saadi, as he is known, started his playing career with Al-Ahly Tripoli in his homeland. He is reported to have once held a 5.3 per cent stake in Juventus. Juve were sponsored by Tamoil, a fuel energy company that originated in the Libyan state, for five years.

Naturally there were fears it would be too big a step up for Saadi to go from the Libyan league to the champions of what was arguably the best league in the world, so Perugia took him on instead.

Despite being made captain of the Libya national team, and recruiting Diego Maradona and Olympic drug cheat Ben Johnson as private coaches, Saadi was a 'terrible' player not much better than Sunday league standard, recalls Bothroyd.

Bothroyd is fully aware of the atrocities the Gaddafi dictatorship subjected to many innocent people in their homeland and abroad but admits he and Saadi developed a friendship in their brief time as teammates.

Speaking about the adventures they experienced together, Bothroyd told Joe.co.uk: "He came about three weeks after me and he could speak English, he was the only person who spoke my language.

"The whole time I was with him I never experienced even a raised voice. When people speak about his family, and I know that they're tyrants and have done atrocious things to people in their country and other people, but I never experienced that from him.

"Money to him was like fresh air. He used to do things where I'd think 'really?' He said 'let's go shopping' and sent me a private jet to come and meet him.

"He sent me his driver, who came to collect me, and he's not going the way to town so I'm peering round to say 'excuse me, we're going the wrong way.'

"We end up at the airport, we pull up to a private jet and I ask what's going on and I'm told I'm going shopping in Milan. He was in Milan waiting.

"We actually went to a birthday party that night, that's where I met my wife, so I guess that was thanks to him.

"He would do things like that all the time, he had 100ft yachts, take me round the south of France and Monaco. His entourage carried suitcases of money around, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I tried to chip in because I felt like I was always taking."

Although Bothroyd at times lived the life of riley with Saadi, there were many stressful moments at cash-strapped Perugia.

Bothroyd said there were occasions where he and teammates were told they wouldn't be paid in a certain month and the club were then forced to borrow money off Saadi to ensure the players wouldn't strike and got paid.

But that still didn't stop the lavish lifestyle, Bothroyd recalling he and a few teammates headed to Cannes for Saadi's birthday where the Pussycat Dolls performed live at the house they rented.

Cars were a clear passion of Saadi, who Bothroyd said owned one of the first Bugatti's in the world. And tradition in Italian football dictated that new players would have to take teammates out for dinner.

However, Saadi was determined to see his new teammates benefit from his love of flash cars until he was talked out of buying the extravagant gifts by Bothroyd.

He added: "In Italy, when you make your debut you have to take your teammates out for dinner, get a pizza or something.

"He wanted to buy everyone a Mercedes. I was like 'are you sure about this?' He was going to order about 30 Mercedes' for staff, everyone.

"In the end he didn't get them, I talked him out of it to be honest. I felt people were taking advantage. He then bought me an Escalade, I was like 'all right, thanks!'

"He did things like that all the time that were just outrageous… I could write a book about him. He gave me some really good memories."

Bothroyd went back to England after Perugia's relegation was confirmed in 2003/04, joining Blackburn on loan in 2004/05 before moving permanently to Charlton in the summer of 2005. He later got his first and only cap for England while playing for Championship side Cardiff City.

Saadi's life turned on its head as his father's brutal dictatorship was brought to and end during the Libyan civil war in 2011. His father was killed and Saadi was imprisoned in 2014 after being extradited from Niger where he had fled once his father was overthrown.

He had been accused of the killing of Libyan football coach Bashir al-Rayani in 2005, as well as committing crimes against protesters when the uprising against his father began.

He was later found innocent.

He was released in September 2021 and is believed to reside in Turkey now where he keeps a low profile. Bothroyd is no longer in contact with him. The memories will last a lifetime, however.