It is the first time the brothers have lived in London, but the third time they have lived together.

Having been born and grown up in Manchester, they came through Manchester City’s academy before Pierce joined Sheffield Wednesday aged 16.

Shea stayed at the Etihad and made his Premier League debut under Pep Guardiola in May 2023 before signing for Southampton that summer.

The brothers were reunited at Wednesday when Shea joined on loan for the 2024-25 campaign, but there was some 200 miles between them last year as the midfielder returned to St Mary’s.

This summer, after impressive performances for Wednesday and Northern Ireland, Pierce returned to Manchester City in a long-term deal before joining QPR on loan.

Not to be outdone, Shea earned a switch back to the Premier League with Fulham as he became Northern Ireland’s first £30m footballer.

Both based in west London, that gave them the opportunity to move back in together, reigniting debates over who is better at the Grand Theft Auto games and Fortnite and who cooks the better steak sandwich.

They both want to claim top honours, but Pierce feels he will have the edge if he can get the peppercorn sauce recipe off the chef at QPR.

Older brother Eoin and parents Mary and Kelvin often come to visit, too, and there’s more debate over who makes the house presentable, and whether doing the dishwasher actually counts as a chore.

“I think she secretly wants it to be messy, so she can have a little dig at us and do it anyway,” jokes Pierce about Mary, who was born in Northern Ireland.

“She enjoys it really, she’s not on holiday,” Shea laughs.

Quickly realising the danger of getting a telling off on her next visit, Shea adds, “Mum is class. We appreciate mum”.