Robin van Persie beats Steven Gerrard, Mesut Ozil and Eden Hazard to be the Premier League's top shirt seller
Manchester United striker sold more shirts than any other player last season
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Robin van Persie can claim to be the most popular player in the Premier League after seeing his shirt top the bestsellers list for the second year in a row.
Van Persie is one of four Manchester United players in the top 10, along with Wayne Rooney at No 6, Juan Mata at No 8 and Shinji Kagawa, who is hugely popular in the Far East, at No 9.
The rankings, revealed in the Premier League Season Review 2013-14, is based on the worldwide sale of shirts and compiled by Sporting iD.
Thanks to Liverpool’s surprise title charge last season, Reds skipper is up to No 2 on the list – he wasn’t on the list a year earlier – while departed striker Luis Suarez is third.
Mesut Ozil is the only new arrival to the Premier League to crack the top 10, and is the only Arsenal player on the list – in 2012-13 there were three members of Arsenal’s squad, but Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Santi Cazorla have all dropped out.
Eden Hazard at No 4 and Frank Lampard, now of Manchester City, at No 10 are the two Chelsea players on the list, while Sergio Aguero is the only entrant from the Champions. The Argentine striker is the seventh biggest seller.
After a remarkable season that went to the wire, players such as Van Persie, Suarez, Hazard and Gerrard lit up the league and captivated Premier League fans across the world,” Robert Thayne, Sporting iD’s Global License Director, said.
“Supporters are clearly showing their loyalty to these players and their clubs by personalising shirts with official Premier League player names, numbers and sleeve badges”.
The review also looked at the number of fans globally who tuned into the Premier League, stating that 1.163bn fans from 650m homes in 175 countries follow England’s top flight.
Of those, Asia & Oceania can claim to have the biggest fan base, with 1.04bn viewers and 457m supporters; Europe has 190m viewers and 84m supporters.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments