‘Match of the Day’ presenter Gary Lineker is going to share his house with an asylum seeker.
The 59-year-old former England striker has offered to help a homeless individual through the charity Refugees at Home, which finds temporary accommodation for people in need, and has agreed to let the person live with him at his Surrey mansion.
Gary currently has no idea who the person will and he is still awaiting for his offer to be approved after a home visit and and interview conducted on behalf of the charity, but after using his Twitter platform to talk about his concern about the plight of refugees crossing the Channel to get to the UK he decided to use his wealth and fame to help firsthand.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, he said: "I have had so much connection with refugees over the last couple of years.
"I have met scores of young refugees through football schemes and they are genuinely lovely kids and they appreciate any help they can get.
"I’m sure it will be fine. I have been thinking of doing something like that for a while.
"My kids are all grown up so I’ve got plenty of room so if I can help on a temporary basis then I’m more than happy to do so. Why not?
"I’m used to young men in my house, I have four lads in their 20s and believe you me I’m sure they will behave better than my lot do. Bloody messy buggers boys, aren’t they?"
Gary – who has four sons, George, Harry, Tobias and Angus – first started campaigning to help refugees in the wake of the death of Syrian boy Alan Kurdi, who drowned off Greece in 2015, and following the recent passing of a Sudanese man in the English Channel made him think it was time for him to do even more.
The former Barcelona player said: "It was seeing the images of what was happening when they were going in the boats and landing in Greece, seeing families dying, it just struck me as so intolerably sad.
"I just thought we were going anti them with front pages with all this anti-refugee propaganda and I thought, put yourself in their shoes.
"It’s about being on the right side yourself. It’s difficult to change people’s minds, primarily because we have become so tribal about whatever the issue is and I think it is perhaps exacerbated by social media
"I don’t want to preach to people and tell them what to do. All you can really do is concentrate on what you believe is right and go from there."