Global sports market research experts Repucom have revealed the identity of the most marketable footballers on Planet Football, and there are some surprise entries in the top 10 …
SEE ALSO: The 50 best players at the 2014 World Cup.
10) Thierry Henry
The former Arsenal captain now plays over in the US with Major League Soccer outfit the New York Red Bulls, with the Frenchman 300,000 followers on Twitter and 16m likes on Facebook.
9) Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The Sweden and Paris Saint-Germain front man may not be taking part in this summer’s World Cup in Brazil, however, the brilliant attacker has still managed to gather 1m followers on Twitter, as well as 15m likes on his Facebook page.
8) Iker Casillas
Just the £1m fans on Twitter for the Spain and Real Madrid goalkeeper, although the shot stopper who captained Los Blancos to their 10th European Cup crown on Saturday has had a whopping 18m likes on his Facebook page, which is sure to now rise ….
7) Neymar
No real surprise to see the name of the FC Barcelona and Brazil playmaker in this top 10, but one may have thought the Selecao star would be slightly higher, although he does have an incredible 11m Twitter followers and 22m likes on Facebook.
6) Andres Iniesta
The diminutive Spain international, scorer of the winning goals for his country to beat Netherlands in the final of the 2010 World Cup, has 9m Twitter followers and an even more impressive 20m likes on his Facebook page as of May 2014.
5) Wayne Rooney
The first appearance of a current Premier League player, and it is the Manchester United and England forward who comes in at No 5 after picking up 9m followers on Twitter and 20m likes on the social media website Facebook.
4) Fernando Torres
It is incredible in many ways really that the misfiring Chelsea and Spain international marksman is even in this list, let alone that he makes the top five, although he has comparatively few followers and likes on Twitter and Facebook respectively with only 2m and 3m.
3) Gerard Pique
Again, a slight surprise to find the name of the FC Barcelona and Spain centre back appearing here, let alone so high up in the final standings in third place, although perhaps the player’s relationship with global pop star Shakira goes some way towards explaining his 8m followers on Twitter and 12m likes on Facebook.
2) Lionel Messi
No great shock to see the little FC Barcelona and Argentinian playmaker in at No 2 here, although what is fairly surprising is how few followers on Twitter the South American superstar has at just 2m, although the front man more than makes up for that when it comes to his Facebook likes, with the small matter of just the 57m!
1) Cristiano Ronaldo
No other player on Planet Football at this current moment in time can come anywhere close to matching the Los Blancos and Portugal international star’s 26m followers on Twitter and 82m likes on Facebook, making the attacker the most marketable commodity in the game at present.
Find out who are the most valuable players in world football.