A former asylum seeker from South Norwood has overtaken David Beckham in the sports earning stakes - yet he is still relatively unknown in this country.

Basketball player Luol Deng became one of the highest-paid sports stars in the world when he signed a new five-year, £41.6million deal with the Chicago Bulls.

The 21-year-old's meteoric success means he will now earn £160,000 a week - reputedly £60,000 a week more than Britain's biggest footballer, Beckham.

Six-feet nine-inches tall Luol, who grew up in Stanger Road, is already a massive star in the US but is less well known here.

The former St Mary's Roman Catholic High School pupil now wants his parents to move to the US but his mother, Martha, is said to be less keen to leave the country that granted them asylum from the Sudan almost 20 years ago.

In 2004, Luol spoke to the Croydon Guardian when he became only the fifth British player ever to be selected for the National Basketball Association (NBA) drafts, which secured him a £3.25million contract to play for the Chicago Bulls.

He said: "It is amazing. I know a lot of people here will be surprised but those who really know me were prepared for this. I did have the chance to go to the NBA before, but decided to finish school first."

Luol, known as Michael during his school days at St Mary's, was born in Sudan in 1985 to parents Martha and Aldo Deng, the second youngest of nine children.

The family are part of the Dinka tribe, renowned for their height and good health. They were granted asylum in 1993 after fleeing war-torn Sudan.

Luol was playing for the Brixton Topcats when he was spotted by a talent scout nine years ago, winning a basketball scholarship to Blair Academy in New Jersey.