Man United Ryan Giggs facing £20m split from wife Stacey

The former Manchester United and Wales winger was reported yesterday to have been given the red card by his wife Stacey, 37, who has accused him of flirting with waitresses at a restaurant he owns.

The split comes after the couple had tried to rebuild their marriage following the star’s eight-year affair with his sister-in-law Natasha Giggs, 33, and his fling with model Imogen Thomas, 33.

Giggs, now assistant manager at Old Trafford, is believed to earn around £100,000 a week and two years ago was estimated to have a £38million fortune.

Last night a divorce expert said that Giggs, 42, could stand to lose at least £20million – and possibly more in a multimillion pound settlement.

Family lawyer Rupi Rai from family law firm Slater and Gordon said last night: “The starting point as far as the courts are concerned is equality.

“The courts will look at achieving an equal division of the assets.

“Then they will take into consideration other factors which are set down in statute. One factor is that he earned a huge amount of money and will continue to do so after the divorce from his wages, adverts, and so on.

“He will have to pay spousal maintenance and of course child maintenance until the children are 18 which includes private school fees and which could be considerable. The court will look at providing her with enough security so she can get on with the rest of her life.

“It is quite easy to say it will be a 50-50 split but the courts will then look at what else they have to provide for. He could say that, instead of child maintenance, he will just give her a huge chunk of money.

“But that assessment will come down to her needs and her lifestyle. He will have to cover her normal monthly expenditure to cover the lifestyle she has enjoyed and that could be anything – possibly between £5,000 and £10,000 a month.