Love Island’s Tom Clare recently revealed the sad news that he’d split from villa girlfriend Samie Elishi, but it seems that he’s not looking back and moving onwards and upwards if his latest announcement is anything to go by.
Tom plied his trade as a professional footballer for Macclesfield FC before appearing on the ITV2 show, but he’s now confirmed that he’s (quite literally) hanging up his boots to focus on his blossoming new career as an influencer.
The reality star announced the news on Instagram – because where else? – in an emotional statement as he opened up about the “tough decision”.
Tom told his followers that he’d “created memories that I will remember for the rest of my life” while playing football at Macclesfield but admitted that he just wasn’t able to turn down the lucrative opportunities that had come his way since rising to fame – including a new home down south.
“The decision for me to leave has been my decision and has been so tough, but now in my life there’s just too many opportunities that I just cannot turn down and moving down to London plays a huge part in that,” he explained.
Tom added, “Football is my passion and has been in me since I could walk, I don’t see it as a job. For the time being I’m taking a step back to focus on other things, but I will never quit football and will keep myself is the best possible shape throughout all of this.”
One of Tom’s new influencer jobs is his role as a pre-loved ambassador for eBay UK alongside 2022 Islander Tasha Ghouri. He announced he’d be working with the brand back in March and he took to his Instagram grid and wrote, "I’m buzzing to announce that I am @ebay_uk's next pre-loved ambassador!
"In the villa I loved showcasing pre-loved fashion from eBay, and the number of brands available is unreal, allowing me to push my style comfort zone. Excited to be taking the pre-loved conversation into menswear and I will be launching my very own pre-loved edit very soon, so watch this space guys! 🙌."
Naturally, his Love Island alumni were quick to share their congratulations with this season's gentle giant.
Winter Kai Fagan commented, "This is sick, congrats mate!!!"
Runner-up Ron Hall wrote, "HUGE news, Congratulations big man! 🔥," while finalist Shaq Muhammad wrote, "Well deserved my bro 👏🏾❤️."
Love Island 2022 finalist Tasha Ghouri – who is technically now an eBay UK colleague of Tom's – also shared her congrats on his post, writing, "Congrats!! Welcome to the team 👏👏."
On his Instagram story, Tom said, "I'm putting pre-loved menswear on the map, and I'm honestly so excited to show you all what we have in store."
He continued, "So, as you all know, I loved styling pre-loved fashion in the villa, so I'm thrilled to be working with eBay to highlight the great fashion available. Also, it's my very own pre-loved collection, so there's going to be lots of cool social content, plus much, much more over the coming months."
Congratulations, you beautiful man, you.