Former West Brom star Markus Rosenberg gives away entire belongings

Around two weeks before striker Markus Rosenberg's move to join his home club Malmo, the Sue Ryder shop in Sheldon, Birmingham, received a call from a woman saying a footballer wanted to donate some of his goods.

But when the charity's staff arrived at his Solihull home on Monday, a day before the 31-year-old flew over to his home country, they realised he wanted them to take everything, from sofas right down to pots and pans.

Tracy Evans, manager at the Sheldon store, took the initial call from one of his representatives.

She said: "We've had furniture, bric-a-brac, linen, clothes, all sorts of things. I got a team together with a van, we pulled up at his house and Markus was there and shook our hands. We thanked him very much, and he kept coming to us and asking if we were OK. It was a big job, we got there around 8.30am and were there until around 2pm.

"We basically left him with just a bed to sleep on, because they were leaving the next day. We took everything down to plates, and even his children's Wendyhouse, slide and trampoline from the garden."

The Sheldon store is also now proudly displaying a West Brom training tracksuit.

The branch in Harborne received many of the items, including a mirror priced at £125, a large canvas picture at £65, a day bed at £150, a child's bed at £75 and a vase, bowl and plate from a designer collection.

The total expected to be raised by the charity is £3,500. Lee Turner, assistant manager at the store in Harborne, said: "We first heard about it from our store generator champion, she said we were getting a lot of items from a footballer going back to Sweden who instead of taking stuff with him has given it to us out of the goodness of his heart.

"The items are really, really nice stuff, good quality which would have been originally purchased for a lot more than we are asking here.

"This is really important to us. In one perspective it will raise a lot of money, from another it is great to have a celebrity donate items, it adds kudos to them and will attract interest from people which we hope will raise more money for charity."

He added: "It is good to see another side of the footballer. All you usually see is the professional side, it's nice to see their generous side, such as this."

For information on how to donate, or to inquire about any of the items, call the Sheldon store on 0121 7429572.