Arsenal have their best shot at winning the Premier League title since the Invincibles season – sitting five points clear at the top of the table. However, certain issues are now threatening to hold them back in the second half of the campaign.
A major issue that is now troubling them is a lack of depth in midfield. Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka have been in splendid form, but there is little quality apart from them. Mohamed Elneny is injured for a long time and Albert Sambi Lokonga is nowhere near good enough.
That is why the Gunners pushed to sign a new midfielder in the final days of the January transfer window. After failing to make Brighton budge for Moises Caicedo, they were rumoured to sign Chelsea midfielder Jorginho.
The Italian midfielder, who was once in the running to win a Ballon d’Or, could be a solid alternative to Partey and Xhaka. However, the majority of Arsenal fans don’t appear to agree with this. A lot of fans are furious that their club are signing an outdated, digressing midfielder like Jorginho instead of someone who can improve them in the future.
One Arsenal fan and The Athletic contributor GoonerBlog took this time to joke around, asking what former France midfielder Mathieu Flaimini was up to.
The midfielder had a reputation for being an energetic, combative midfielder who could play in a variety of positions and made over 150 appearances for the Gunners across two stints.
Some fans agreed that Flamini would probably be a better option than Jorginho and it got so popular that the Frenchman was forced to reply.
He shut down claims of any possibility of returning to the Emirates, replying: “I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that we bring the Title home..!! Miss you all..”
This is because the 38-year-old is now happily retired and did so in 2019, after failing to impress at Getafe.
Another major reason is that Flamini was focused on moving into the next phase of his life. He was done with football and wanted to focus more on the booming business that was helping him soar financially.
Is Mathieu Flamini rich?
While he did have a decent football career, the Frenchman did not really become rich due to his heroics inside the pitch. He did so due to the business that he set up way back in 2008 when he still used to play for AC Milan.
In that year, Flamini found the company GF Biochemicals alongside Pasquale Granata. The term ‘GF’ is basically based on the names of the two founding partners – who are still very much involved in it. The company was the first in history to mass-produce levulinic acid, with its fuel being made from Plant Waste.
GF Biochemicals has also worked with experts from the University of Pisa and the Polytechnic University of Milan to develop a technology that helps produce sustainable alternatives to oil-based products, like plastic.
As per GF Biochemicals, their products help to offer a solution to reduce greenhouse emissions and improve the carbon footprint of consumers. In another way, they offer more environmental-friendly products.
Since 2015, the company has seen massive growth and has been able to expand itself all through the world. They have a plant in Caserta, Italy that employs over 80 people. GF Biochemicals also has offices in the Netherlands as well as Milan.
Thanks to how much his company has grown, Flamini’s net worth has also soared. He is currently worth £10.2 billion due to his business ventures, which is definitely much more than what he could’ve even imagined earning as a footballer.
Is Flamini actually richer than Messi and Ronaldo?
The Frenchman’s incredible net worth makes him much richer than some of the biggest footballers around the world. In fact, he is actually worth more than the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – two of the highest-earning players in world football.
Ronaldo has a worth of around £363 million thanks to whatever he earned in his football career as well as his endorsement earnings. Messi, meanwhile, has a higher net worth of around £483 million and is one of the most valuable sportsmen in the world.
Flamini was nowhere near the two players in his playing career and did not even come close to being nominated for a Ballon d’Or, let alone with one.
But thanks to his amazing work in helping his company grow and doing something beneficiary for his world, he now has a net value that is higher than some of the richest sportspeople around the world. There, is, however, a major catch to this.
Can Flamini buy Arsenal?
One of the funny replies to Flamini’s message to the Arsenal fans saw some Gooners urge him to buy the club from Stan Kroenke. Kroenke has, of course, not put the Gunners up for sale – unlike the likes of Man United and Liverpool now being up for sale.
Last year, Forbes claimed that Arsenal’s club value was around £1.6 billion. So, considering that Flamini has a worth of £10.2bn, he should be easily able to buy his former club if needed, right? That isn’t exactly the case.
Recently, Flamini brushed aside claims that he was as rich as Microsoft founder Bill Gates – who is among the richest people in the world. He said: “Contrary to what I read, I do not have €30 billion in my bank account.
“In fact, [€30 billion] is the total value of the market we want to ‘attack’ with the new technologies we have developed in recent years. There was a misunderstanding. It’s as if we had given a single restaurant the value of the entire catering market in France.”
While his net worth might be more than the likes of Messi or Ronaldo, it doesn’t mean Flamini has that much amount available to him.
His value is so high because of that of his company and he could earn that kind of huge amount if he decides to sell GF Biochemicals. That is unlikely to happen anytime soon, which means Flamini probably has less cash or money in his bank account than Ronaldo or Messi.
He is, however, doing very well for himself and created a post-retirement model that can inspire many footballers going forward.