Gareth Bale is likely to come in for more criticism after replacing Mesut Ozil at Real Madrid with leading online retailer UKSoccershop.com revealing sales of Arsenal's new signing are outstripping the Welshman's by five to one.
Madrid have already been castigated for allowing Ozil to leave for around half the fee paid to make Bale the world's most expensive player after moving from Tottenham to the Bernabeu for £86million.
Germany coach Joachim Low branded the decision 'incomprehensible', while Madrid players including Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos have also expressed their anger at seeing the German leave.
Pressure is now mounting on Bale ahead of his debut with Real Madrid next weekend, especially with shirt sales figures suggesting it is the player he has replaced who is capturing the imagination of the football world.
UKSoccershop.com managing director Simon Pretswell said: 'Leaving aside the debate over Bale's sporting merits, a large part of any major transfer is often the commercial advantages associated with the signing of the player.'
'In the case of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and previous stars such as David Beckham, it is almost a license to print money for the club as shirt sales and other merchandising goes through the roof.'
'While it would be untrue to say there is not an interest in Bale shirts, our sales data shows he is being significantly outsold by Mesut Ozil and is not attracting the same level of attention generated by Neymar when he transferred to Barcelona earlier in the summer.'
'Bale's talents as a footballer are undoubted, but he has never been one of our bestselling Premiership players, with supporters preferring the likes of Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Steven Gerrard and even Fernando Torres.'
Bale is already discovering that becoming the world's most valuable player comes with intense scrutiny, and will be hoping he begins better on the pitch than he has done in the club merchandising stakes.
TOP SELLING SHIRTS IN PREMIER LEAGUE LAST SEASON!
1. Robin van Persie (Manchester United)
2. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
3. Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United)
4. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
5. Fernando Torres (Chelsea)
6. Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
7. Luis Suarez (Liverpool)
8. Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)
9. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)
10. Santi Cazorla (Arsenal)
Ozil - Gunner Golactico
Özil shirts outselling Bale shirts by 5:1!
posted on 9/9/13
I imagine a website called UKSoccershop is going to get much more shirt sales for an Arsenal (Team from UK) player than a Real Madrid (Team from Spain) player.
Unless this is comparing Özil's shirt sales from last season at Madrid?
posted on 9/9/13
UKSoccershop.com
UK based retailer is calling football, soccer.
posted on 9/9/13
A bit of a silly article...
If anything, Ozil shirts should be outselling Bale shirts by even more than 5/1, in a UK retailer.
posted on 9/9/13
In fairness, typing in 'football shirts' into Google brings them out in 3rd place.
posted on 9/9/13
In fairness, typing in 'football shirts' into Google brings them out in 3rd place.
What this guy said!
posted on 9/9/13
Just had a look at their website - I see no discounts there, bloody ridiculous prices.
Although it is odd that they've "Sold Out" of pink Arsenal goalie shirts. I suspect in this case "Sold Out" means "We didn't bother getting any of these, what kind of loon would actually wear one in the street?".
posted on 9/9/13
Wouldn't a Madrid.fan just go to the official store to get a shirt?
posted on 9/9/13
So Bale wasn't even in the top 10 of last year best selling shirt? Despite being player of the year?
posted on 9/9/13
"In fairness, typing in 'football shirts' into Google brings them out in 3rd place."
Unfortunately, that counts for nothing. You're probably searching from google.co.uk and even if you weren't google would still be showing you regionalised results.
posted on 9/9/13