A PROPERTY developer is banking on breaking records after putting England’s most iconic football shirt up for sale.

Andrew Leslau, from Milton Common, near Thame, has placed a £2.3m price tag on Sir Geoff Hurst’s 1966 World Cup winning jersey, two years after buying it.

The figure – 25 times the amount Sir Geoff got when he sold the No 10 red shirt – would be the highest amount ever paid for footballing memorabilia.

Sir Geoff wore the top in the 4-2 win over West Germany when he became the first, and as yet only, man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

Mr Leslau hopes it will attract wealthy fans swept up by World Cup fever.

The shirt is on show, under 24-hour guard, at Harrods in London.

Last night, the 52-year-old father-of- three said he believed the shirt was “without equal.”

He said: “The shirt was bought as an investment over two years ago.

“Rumours have been rife as to the price it was acquired for. The precise sum is not only subject to confidentiality, but cannot be accurate because it was part of a portfolio. Suffice it to say it was more than Sir Geoff sold it for in 2000.”

Sir Geoff sold the shirt in June 2000 to a private collector for £91,750. It was then sold to an anonymous West Ham fan.

In 2008, Mr Leslau bought it on behalf of foreign investors for an undisclosed sum, but insured it for £1m.

He said: “The original intention was simply to display it at Harrods for a month prior to the World Cup.

“However, in light of all the interest now focused on the 1966 team and Sir Geoff in particular, and unsolicited enquiries to purchase the shirt, it was decided to offer it for sale.”

The current record for football memorabilia is the oldest surviving FA Cup, bought for £478,000 in 2005 by West Ham co-owner David Gold.

Sir Geoff’s hat-trick led to England’s only World Cup win and one of sport’s most controversial questions – did his second goal cross the line?

Mr Leslau said: “Who can say with any confidence, or certainty what is the value of the shirt? The shirt is without equals or comparables.

“The shirt is the iconic image of the greatest moment in this country’s football and sporting history.

“And what is more, no other player has ever scored a hat trick in a World Cup Final – and whatever happens in the future Sir Geoff will always be the first.

“In short, unlike any other, the shirt has the greatest national and international importance, and always will.”

Sir Geoff’s shirt is not the first piece of memorabilia from the 1966 final to go under the hammer.

Full-back George Cohen’s shirt was sold at Christie’s for £38,400, while Alan Ball’s winner’s medal sold for £164,800 and his cap for £43,200.

dhearn@oxfordmail.co.uk