A Premier League footballer. The dream job for many. Earning hundreds of thousands, driving fast cars, travelling the world, and having a kick about with your mates on the weekend for your troubles.

But what happens when it all goes wrong? When that is all taken away suddenly, through no fault of your own? When your club, serial participants in Europe, turn their backs on you because your body can no longer provide what they need?

There are a number of different possibilities for players in a post-football world. If they're lucky, some will go into punditry, or coaching. Some take up more 'normal' careers. Others struggle.

But Kortney Hause has his own story. Once a Premier League centre back on thousands of pounds a week, scoring at Old Trafford and enjoying international success under Gareth Southgate, he is now working on an R&B album as he attempts to launch a new music career.

Hause is only 30. But it was 14 years ago that he made his debut for Wycombe Wanderers as a teenage hopeful, before getting a big move to Wolves.

A successful loan spell at Gillingham would follow, cut short because Wolves saw his abilities and wanted him around the first team. It was then he would become a regular in their Championship defence.

When Wolves were promoted to the Premier League in 2018, Hause was deemed not quite ready for the top division and would join Aston Villa - still in the Championship - on loan. He would again help earn his side promotion, but Villa took a chance, and he made his move permanent.

But this is where it's time to pause. Back in December 2018, Hause nearly lost it all - including his life.

It was Christmas. Having not been included in the Wolves squad for their Boxing Day clash at Fulham, he decided to travel to Essex to spend the holidays with his family.

He hit Oxford Circus with a friend while on the trip, all the while being watched by criminals who followed the footballer on his 40-minute drive home to ambush him.

'I've walked to my front door, my boy has pulled off and a car... all tinted, pulled up and then stopped,' he later said, speaking of the ordeal. 'All the doors opened apart from the driver's door and like five guys hopped out of the car and I'm thinking, "what's this, some prank?"

'I remember there was a tall guy and the other guys were like average height, but the tall guy was like, "grab him, grab him, grab him".'

Hause managed to momentarily evade the gang, before the taller member of the group assaulted him with a glass bottle, leaving a nasty gash on his head.

'He pulls his arm back, I think he is going to punch me but that's when he like... it must have been a bottle because it smashed, it must have been the end of a bottle and that is where I got that scar. I got that scar from him literally whacking my head with a bottle.'

Hause explained that the gang jumped on him but once again he managed to escape and ran towards a nearby hospital.

The gang chased the Villa defender by car and met him again just outside of the entrance to Accident and Emergency, and Hause detailed how he feared his attackers may have possessed a gun.

The sound of a nearby ambulance scared the attackers off momentarily, allowing Hause time to ask a paramedic for help. However, he was refused assistance and ran into the A&E department. After 15 minutes, he was attended to and in safe hands.

There has been no information on whether the gang were ever found or arrested. Hause had little choice but to keep on going.

He had made 18 top flight appearances in his debut season in the Premier League. As Villa strengthened, though, he found himself struggling for game time. And injuries didn't help - groin, ankle, and hip issues meant his time on the pitch plummeted.

In all of that, however, came a career-high moment for him. During Villa's clash with Manchester United in September 2021, Hause would rise highest two minutes from time to head past David De Gea and score the winner as his side won at Old Trafford for the first time since 2009.

But that was about as good as it got. At the start of the 2022-23 season, he would return to the Championship on loan with Watford, hoping to find his form again. But repeated knee injuries made that impossible - and the spell went so badly that Watford tried to terminate the deal in January.

Villa rejected, and he was left rotting with the Hornets for the remainder of the season. He did not make a single Championship appearance for the rest of the campaign.

When he did eventually return to Villa, he would undergo multiple knee surgeries to try and put his issues to bed. But there was no fix. A brief time training with the Under-21s at Villa pointed towards a return, but that never materialised, and no other club would take a chance on his services. The 2023-24 season passed without one single appearance for the defender.

The summer came and went. The transfer window closed. Still, Hause was an Aston Villa player. Still, he did not play football. In December of 2024, it emerged Villa were looking to cancel his contract, which ran until the end of the season. He publicly agreed it was best for all parties, and that he would not fight it.

But at the club he stayed and, in April 2025, after two years without kicking a football competitively, he would return to playing, lining up for the U21 side in the Birmingham Senior Cup. Two months later, his hell was over, and he would be released by the club.

That left him in limbo. No longer did he have the regular salary of a footballer to fall back on. With a demonic injury history behind him, it would not be easy for him to find a new club and get back playing again. Would he even enjoy it? That's where music comes in.

Hause isn't - wasn't - one of those players where football is his life. He has another passion in R&B music, and had explored that hobby during his playing career. 

In 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic, Korts released a song titled 'Worth it' in collaboration with producer Deontay (KG) in the hopes it would raise money for the NHS.

He donated every penny. And it was his debut single.

'I come from a family of seven boys and we were brought up in a musical background,' he told The Sun in 2020. 'My older brothers used to listen to the likes of Michael Jackson, Usher and Chris Brown.

'We would join forces and sing together at family parties and stuff. We used to literally think we were the Jackson Five growing up — and I used to believe I was Michael Jackson.

'I love all types of music, whether it is rap or R&B, classical, indie or rock. I appreciate every genre of music, as long as it sounds good to me and has a vibe to it.

'I went down the R&B route because I just feel it suits the tone of my voice best. I'm the first member of my family to release a single. But my younger brother Rio is 20 and he is going to release some of his music soon.'

No longer does he go by the name Kortney Hause - instead, 'Korts'. It's self-explanatory. His Instagram profile has since changed to a dedicated music page, with one post from eight weeks ago captioned: 'Occupation: music artist.'

He also shares snippets from his songs, whether he's in his car, his living room, or on the street. 'I know, girl, you're a part of my life for a reason' is one line from his next release. There is an album on the way.

With money in his pocket and a social media following to go with it, Hause has the potential to go far with his music. But, if that's not enough; he has another side hustle, too.

A clothing brand. Named Blinded Minds, the business took him to China recently ahead of its launch. 'I was in China a few weeks ago on a business trip,' Hause said on Instagram. 'The clothing brand will be ready just in time for the summer.'

So, Hause has quite the story. Once an international hopeful, his footballing career would be snatched away from him by injuries. It was unclear if he would even make it out of one ordeal alive.

But rather than feel sorry for himself, he is taking the next step. There is a lot of money and lengthy careers to be made in both music and clothing.

He definitely has the determination. And as Aston Villa ready themselves to compete in a European final, Hause is looking to take his story to the next level, and whether that happens or not is in his hands. No injury worries. No fighting for a contract. Just the prospect of a bright, fresh future.

So keep an eye out. Korts: potentially coming to a venue near you soon.