Arsenal spend at last and spark 12-fold increase in shirt sales
ARSENAL reported an enormous spike in sales of replica shirts yesterday as fans flocked to celebrate the club record signing of Mesut Ozil.
Sales of shirts via the club’s online store were 12 times higher than normal, a Gunners spokesperson said, while retail outlets at the stadium also reported huge interest, with the overwhelming majority of customers snapping up Ozil’s No11 jersey.
It came as the playmaker posed with an Arsenal shirt for the first time in pictures posted by his new club colleague and Germany team-mate Lukas Podolski on Twitter.
The £42.5m Arsenal paid Real Madrid for Ozil was almost three times their previous record transfer, the £15m purchase of Russian forward Andrey Arshavin in 2009, and saw them abandon their reputation for frugality in spectacular fashion. It was the single biggest fee among the £630m spent by Premier League clubs during the summer window.
Arsenal said they also enjoyed a more modest flurry of interest in tickets following Ozil’s capture. The 24-year-old could make his debut in the trip to Sunderland on 14 September or the Champions League away fixture at Marseille four days later, with his first home game likely to be the visit of Stoke on 22 September.