During the past couple of years, the footballing scene in Asia has been growing rapidly with leagues in Japan and China taking major steps to bring top European players into their countries.
A number of big stars have made their move to Asia and most of than not the players have been attracted by the huge sums of money that have been offered.
While almost every player has been fallen in this lucrative trap but one player has remained firm – choosing to a multi-million dollar move to Asia.
The player we are talking about is Arsenal forward Mesut Ozil who has reportedly rejected a £1 million a week move to Asia in order to stay in the Premier League.
Ozil’s agent, Erkut Sogut said: “We had some really big offers from Asia – there were some crazy offers,
“But, for Mesut, money was by no means the biggest factor.
“Money is definitely one important thing to consider, but people must remember that footballing ability is just one aspect of a contract negotiation. The commercial impact of a footballer is crucial nowadays,
Mesut Ozil reportedly turned down lucrative offers from elsewhere to sign a new deal with Arsenal in January.
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“Mesut has the biggest social media following of any player in the Premier League and I just read that his shirt numbers (sales) were the largest at the club.
“At the end of the day, this is all information that has to be taken into consideration.
“So, the commercial side is very big with a player like Mesut, who has played in different countries and was the No10 of the Germany team, where he won the World Cup. His market is worldwide. The club makes money out of these players as well.”
Mesut Ozil eventually went on to sign a new deal with Arsenal earlier this year and is now receiving a handsome fee at the Emirates. But that amount is nowhere close to what he would have gotten had he move to Asia.
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