Millions of people on the planet dream of making it as a professional footballer. In fact from all the children who already play in academies at the age of nine, fewer than 1% will make it professional at any level of the game.
Imagine overcoming all these odds. Beating every obstacle put in front of you. Just to indulge in criminal behaviour such as attempted murder and drug trafficking. As if the millions footballers make isn’t already enough…
Well this is exactly what Quincy Promes done. So, what led the talented Dutchman down this route?
The Rise of Quincy Promes
Quincy Promes was one of the hottest prospects in Europe. His consistent world class performances earned him the nickname of “Promessi” by his fans.
But before he got to this level we have to slow down to when he was still on the come up. At just the age of 16 Promes was already one of the most promising talents in the Ajax academy. But despite his talent, the team ended up expelling him from the academy thanks to his bad behaviour.
Although we do not know what exactly this ‘bad behaviour’ consisted of, Promes mentioned that he was ‘never an easy boy to deal with’, that he ‘loved chaos’ and ‘never held his tongue for anyone’.
Life away from Ajax
In the following years after getting expelled, Promes found himself at the club Twente. Here, he received his first professional contract and made his professional debut.
He made a name for himself whilst at the club as well as on loan at Go Ahead Eagles. Which led to big clubs like Juventus and Valencia interested in signing him.
However,, Quincy opted to join Russian side FC Spartak Moscow. This move was a shock to football fans as they believed that he was destined for a big European move. His former teammates on the other hand were not surprised by his decision.
During his time at Go Ahead Eagles, Promes was nicknamed ‘Money Wolf’ by his teammates. He had always been money hungry, often telling his teammates that he is waiting for his big money move. And also showing off his expensive clothes and jewellery in his pictures on social media.
A lot of people began to lose faith in him after his move to Russia, deeming the player as ‘too unserious to fulfil his potential’ at a top European club.
Despite all the noise, Promes was on fire in his second season at the club. He won player of the month for August, September, October and November whilst also registering 18 goal contributions in 18 matches later on in the season.
Although his performances sparked interest from Inter Milan and Liverpool, once again his love for money would win as he signed a contract renewal with Spartak Moscow where he was offered even more money.
But on the pitch he continued to shine as he went on to score the goal that won his side the league title for the first time in 16 years.
Promes’ Return to Ajax
Promes would finally give in after Spartak Moscow failed to qualify for the Champions League.
He made the move to Spain to play for Sevilla. But a poor season saw him leave after just one year and rejoin former manager Erik Ten Hag at Ajax.
He had a spectacular debut season where he registered 13 goal contributions in 14 league games as well as scoring against every team he played in the Champions League group stage.
But just as he was getting his career back on track, Promes was detained by the police as a suspect in a stabbing incident that occurred in July of 2020.
Family Feud at the Promes household
According to reports Promes attended a family birthday party drunk where he got into a feud with his cousin over a €3000 necklace that had apparently been stolen from his aunt.
He allegedly was heard saying that he’d ‘kill him’ before stabbing him in the knee.
Although Promes was released as he awaited trail, he could barely replicate his form from earlier in the season. And with the case drawing to a close, by February Promes made a return to Russian side Spartak Moscow.
A lot of conspiracies surround this transfer as it was completed very late into the transfer window. And to make things even more strange, right after the move it became very clear that Promes would be charged with attempted murder.
Another strange thing about this move was the fact that Russia had no extradition agreement with the Netherlands. This meant that when things went left for Promes his move was quite literally a calculated ‘get out of jail free card’.
More criminal activity follows Promes
This was not the end of the criminal behaviour surrounding his name.
In 2020 the Dutch police managed to intercept 4 tonnes of cocaine that were stored in a harbour. Soon after people in direct association with Quincy were charged and detained for drug trafficking and money laundering.
Initially, Promes wasn’t considered to be involved as this could all be taking place without his knowledge.
Until Promes was constantly receiving calls from the people who had been imprisoned. So at this point, police began to consider him as an associate.
After tapping his phone hoping to catch him talking about his involvement, the police caught him confessing to something completely different…
The confession
On the day of the stabbing Promes made a call to his father. After being asked by his father “Why are you coming after your cousin, I don’t want you to get into trouble.”
Quincy responded: “It was either that or I would kill him, don’t you get it?”
Afterwards Promes called his mother where he asked her where his cousin got hit. She tells him that he got hit in his leg to which he responds: “Then he got lucky.”
“My loyalty is to my aunt whoever steals from her I will kill.”
“He was lucky I don’t carry a gun anymore or it would’ve been much uglier.”
The final verdict on the case
After several delays to his trial, the charges for attempted murder were dropped and substituted with aggravated assault charges.
The prosecutors wanted him to receive a 2 year prison sentence. But luckily for the Dutchman, he only received 18 months. And since he is in Russia, he won’t be doing the time and can continue playing his football.
Ever since the sentencing Promes has been in fine form. He’s scored 25 goals and 10 assists over the course of the season. But although the player has moved on, the police haven’t…
The criminal lifestyle continues
The police still haven’t given up on trying to prosecute him for the drug trafficking case. They claim that he is partly responsible for importing 1.3 tonnes of cocaine and also linked him to doing business with drug lord Pier Wortel, who has escaped from being sentenced to prison in both Spain and Netherlands.
According to reports Promes has been in debt to Wortel after allowing a shipment of 400 kilos of cocaine to be stolen.
This was all linked back to him by an encrypted text the police managed to intercept which read “The other half is safe, carry on with the job.”
The Dutchman has also surprisingly taken his talents to the music industry. With a song featuring famous rapper Lil Baby being leaked on YouTube.
Although his name has been quiet recently, with all these rumours surrounding his name I won’t be surprised if we hear news about him soon.
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