'I was one of Arsene Wenger's Arsenal wonderkids but now I enjoy gardening'

Ex-Arsenal ace Henri Lansbury has swapped scoring goals for tending to turfs and is now the proud entrepreneur of a blossoming lawn-care business after hanging up his boots.

The 34-year-old, who ended his playing days on a high with Luton Town in 2023, has seen his company Grass Gains take off, securing a coveted spot on Homebase shelves and even pampering the pitches he once played on at Arsenal's Hale End academy.

Lansbury's has also been tasked with tending to numerous pitches, from Craven Cottage to clubs abroad in Monaco and Genk, as he told talkSPORT about his plans previously: "We're going in the right direction, a few local clubs have asked for it and we've put it down on their pitches as well."

"I want to give back to the local clubs, I want them to have a nice pitch to play on. There's nothing better than a kid running on a pitch with stripes on it and that's what it does, it helps stripe it off."

After scoring his final goal in September 2022, Lansbury celebrated with a unique lawn mowing gesture, acknowledging Luton's gift of some training ground turf for him to care for. His team-mate Carlton Morris was full of admiration, stating: "Honestly, it's like a bowls pitch. He knows his way around the garden, that's for sure."

Back in 2010, when Lansbury was on loan at Watford, Arsene Wenger predicted he would be a future star. "He will be a big player for me," the Arsenal manager declared then. "He is at the moment having a very interesting experience [at Watford] that we judge to be very successful. He will come back at the end of the season and practice with the first team in the next pre-season. Then we will assess the situation with him together."

Despite these lofty expectations, Lansbury left Arsenal for Nottingham Forest in 2012 for £1million after several loan spells, later signing for Aston Villa.

Once dreaming of making his mark with Arsenal, Lansbury now aspires to manicure the Emirates Stadium pitch. Now known as 'The Lawn Lad' on social media, he was recently recognised as the top influencer of 2023 by Turf Business.

After facing issues with toxic fertiliser, he was motivated to launch Grass Gains. Lansbury has now divulged the secrets behind his company's flourishing success, including the importance of keeping a perfect garden.

He commented: "A lot of it has to do with branding. You see the other companies... all plastic boxes, quite dull, quite boring. I'm just trying to lift the gardening world.

"If you make your grass nice, it's like another room in the house. You could add £10-15k if your grass is nice. Don't just chuck all your rubbish into the garden. A lot of our complaints are about grass not growing in certain areas. It's full of bricks, full of plastics. They kill the soil. Our product lifts the soil and helps it regenerate."