The fireworks at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow had long faded, and the World Cup trophy was held high by France Team. But the aftershocks of the 2018 Russia World Cup were still reverberating throughout the global football world.
As the tournament settled, FIFA's individual awards were announced one after another.
The Best Goalkeeper award was, without suspense, given to Belgium's goalkeeper, Courtois. He made numerous incredible saves throughout the tournament, playing a crucial role in Belgium's fourth-place finish.
The December Ballon d'Or sparked widespread discussion and anticipation. Croatia's midfield maestro, Modric, became the hottest candidate for the Ballon d'Or due to his masterful control, tireless running, precise passing, and his leadership in guiding the checkered ones to a historic final appearance. Fans and media highly praised him, believing he deserved the trophy that symbolized the tournament's best player.
However, the final official result would only be formally announced at the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony at the end of the year.
And two other heavyweight individual awards: The World Cup Golden Boot and the Best Young Player Award, were, without dispute, awarded to the same person: England Team's number 17, the transfer market's most expensive player in the 2018 summer window, the 18-year-old genius, Oliver.
When FIFA officially announced this result, global attention once again focused on this young man. He stood on the podium, holding the Golden Boot trophy, symbolizing the World Cup's top scorer, in one hand, and the Best Young Player trophy in the other, with a humble yet confident smile on his face.
Photographers captured this historic moment.
18 years old. Three Golden Boots in a single season. This achievement resounded like thunder in the football world. Last season's Bundesliga Golden Boot, Champions League Golden Boot, plus now the most prestigious World Cup Golden Boot.
At just 18 years old—all these elements combined in Oliver, creating a legendary record unprecedented and unlikely to be surpassed in the short term. He not only broke the record for the youngest Golden Boot winner in the World Cup but also firmly held the glory of the Golden Boot with an undeniable 8 goals. The Best Young Player Award was a double affirmation of his extraordinary performance and immense potential in this tournament.
After the awards were locked in, praise from media and fans poured in like a tide:
"Arsenal's number 7, England's number 17, an 18-year-old with 3 Golden Boots!!"
"This is the youngest Golden Boot winner in World Cup history! And also the only player with 3 Golden Boots in a single season, Oliver writes a new legend!"
"A new king is born! Oliver and Mbappé forge the new rivalry era!"
Yes, "New Rivalry."
This title quickly became a high-frequency term in global sports media after the World Cup.
France Team, and Paris Saint-Germain's core player, Mbappé, also young, also scored in the World Cup final, helping France Team win the championship, demonstrating unparalleled speed and impact; while England's Oliver, adorned with the Golden Boot, the core of the Three Lions, with comprehensive skills, exquisite shooting, and immense potential in the market behind him. The two, like rising twin stars, are widely regarded as the "New Rivalry" who will dominate the football world for the next decade or even longer.
This expectation was directly reflected in player valuations.
After the World Cup, the authoritative German transfer market website quickly updated player market values. Mbappé's market value soared from 150 million Euros before the World Cup to a staggering 180 million Euros. This was already a top historical level.
However, even more astonishing was Oliver's market value update.
His estimated market value, from 180 million Euros before the World Cup, skyrocketed like a rocket, directly jumping to 240 million Euros! This figure instantly ignited the global football world. 240 million Euros!
This had already far exceeded people's understanding of player market values.
The transfermarkt website provided a detailed explanation for this, with a dedicated page from an analyst revealing the composition behind this "240 million market value":
Oliver's hard power value, which is the core part of Oliver's market value. Oliver won three consecutive top-tier tournament Golden Boots (Bundesliga, Champions League, World Cup), and at the age of 18, he scored 8 goals in the World Cup to win the Golden Boot and the Best Young Player award. His demonstrated finishing ability, game reading ability, big-game composure, and immense room for improvement have already reached the level of the world's top strikers.
These 200 million Euros are the highest recognition of his current strength and future potential. This market value is very convincing and undisputed.
It's no exaggeration to say.
…
When the figure of "240 million Euros" and the detailed analysis reached Arsenal's headquarters at London Colney.
The executive meeting room fell into a dead silence, followed by huge exclamations and uncontrollable euphoria.
CEO Gazidis held a tablet, looking at the dazzling "€240M" on the screen, his fingers trembling slightly.
He looked up at Kroenke, the club chairman, who was equally stunned, and Sanllehi, the chief financial officer:
"My God… 240 million Euros? This… This is insane! We only spent 158 million pounds (approximately 180 million Euros) initially! How many months has it been?! Not even two months, and he hasn't even played a single Premier League game yet!"
Kroenke took a deep breath, trying to calm the turmoil in his heart. He looked at Professor Wenger, who was sitting in the corner, silent all along, with a complex gaze, and said:
"Professor… I finally understand now why you were so insistent back then, even willing to use all the transfer budget to sign this kid… it's simply…"
Kroenke couldn't find the right words to describe it.
Professor Wenger had a calm and gratified smile on his face, as if everything was within his expectations. He pushed his glasses and said, "Kroenke, Gazidis, I told you, Oliver's value goes far beyond goals on the pitch. His talent, his age, that is a huge treasure we have never truly deeply explored. When I signed him, it wasn't just for sporting reasons, but also a strategic investment for the next decade or even longer. Now it seems our initial 'gamble' has yielded returns far beyond expectations."
Gazidis nodded repeatedly, his face filled with uncontrollable excitement. "More than just far beyond expectations! We've practically struck gold! Gentlemen, look at this!"
Gazidis pulled up another report and said.
"The latest sales data from the club shop! Oliver's 'Ollie 7' home jersey, during and after the World Cup, sold five times more than the combined sales of all other players' jerseys! This season hasn't even started yet, and his jersey sales have already reached 600,000 units, and they're sold out globally! We can't even restock fast enough! And scarves, hats, training kits with his number and name… all merchandise, completely sold out! The official website server crashed several times from the traffic! And, our official social media accounts in various asian countries saw an 800% surge in followers during the World Cup! Engagement was dozens of times higher than before!"
Sanllehi added.
"Not only that, but our marketing department just received several sponsorship letters of intent from top Asian companies! The prices they offered… were very, very substantial. These companies had only one core requirement: as long as Oliver was at Arsenal, their sponsorship fees would be in place."
A collective gasp echoed through the conference room once more.
Gazidis was deeply moved.
"Tsk tsk… I finally completely understand now why Mr. Thorne was so unyielding about Oliver's image rights during the negotiations, insisting on taking 70%!"
He shook his head with a bitter smile,
"At the time, we thought he was being greedy, believing that the club only taking 30% was too much of a loss. Now it seems… we were too short-sighted! The 30% image rights revenue that Ollie brings to the club, its absolute value and growth rate, will probably be much higher than the 80% revenue from all our other players combined! This is simply turning stone into gold!"
Kroenke leaned heavily back in his chair, his face showing immense satisfaction and infinite anticipation for the future.
"Professor, how about this, Oliver is currently on a short break. Once he comes to the club, we will immediately restart negotiations. A weekly salary of 190,000 is a great disrespect to Oliver's ability and commercial value, and a 200 million pound buyout clause is even more of a bomb. I can guarantee that there will definitely be clubs challenging this buyout clause! Especially those Middle Eastern oil tycoons!"
"That's exactly what I intended," the Professor nodded and said.
…
After the World Cup ended,
Oliver returned to his London home and began a short rest. Meanwhile, his father and agent, Mr. Jules Thorne, officially entered the busiest and most exciting harvest season.
His son had shone brightly at the World Cup, winning three Golden Boots at 18, with his value skyrocketing to 300 million euros, becoming one of the globally recognized "New Dual Stars." This elevated his negotiation leverage to an unprecedented level.
All the brands that had contacted Jules before the World Cup, without exception, sent new cooperation intentions. And the offers had almost doubled or more!
Jules remained calm and collected. He began a meticulous selection and negotiation process, combining his son's personal preferences (Oliver himself rose to fame in the Bundesliga, so he leaned more towards German brands), brand alignment, and most importantly, maximizing market potential and commercial value.
After several rounds of fierce competition and deliberation, a series of astonishing endorsement contracts were finally finalized:
[Adidas]: Offered Oliver a 5-year contract, with the annual basic endorsement fee increasing to 30 million euros.
In addition, Adidas promised to create an exclusive personal signature boot series "O7" for Oliver and give him a generous sales commission (estimated to bring in millions to tens of millions of euros in additional income annually). Adidas valued not only Oliver's on-field influence but also the vast Asia and global markets behind him.
[Mercedes-Benz]: Offered a 3-year contract worth a total of 24 million euros and a car of choice. (8 million euros per year). Choosing a German luxury car brand not only aligns with Oliver's background of gaining fame in the Bundesliga but also highlights his high-end image. Mercedes-Benz hopes to leverage Oliver's immense appeal among young people and in the Asia market.
[Huawei]: A 3-year contract worth a total of 45 million euros (15 million euros per year). This is one of the most strategically significant and important collaborations. As a Chinese technology giant, Huawei valued the local market affinity and global influence brought by Oliver's Chinese heritage. The high contract amount also reflected the Chinese market's recognition and respect for Oliver's commercial value.
[Calvin Klein]: A 3-year contract worth a total of 12 million euros (4 million euros per year). CK valued Oliver's young, handsome, healthy, energetic image and his growing global popularity.
[RedBull]: A 3-year contract worth a total of 12 million euros (4 million euros per year). Red Bull consistently sponsors athletes with strong personalities and breakthrough spirits, and Oliver's World Cup performance perfectly matched their brand identity. Includes free pass to RedBull garage in F1 races.
There were also many online platform contracts.
[Douyin]: They had offered 10 million US dollars to invite Oliver to join before the World Cup, but Jules refused at the time. After the World Cup, their offer directly doubled to 20 million US dollars! They hoped Oliver could regularly update his personal videos.
[TikTok] also refused to be outdone, offering 17 million US dollars for his presence, competing for the traffic on Chinese social media.
[Tencent]: A domestic gaming giant, purchasing Oliver's image rights for 10 million euros per year, to be used for character skins, image endorsements, etc., in their popular games (such as football games, MOBA, and even shooting games). The commercial value in the virtual world is also immense.
Jules is an old businessman, and his business acumen goes far beyond negotiating contracts. He knew that after his son's explosion in popularity, various infringements and preemptive registrations would surely emerge endlessly.
So he took his team and quickly registered all core trademarks related to his son in major global markets:
For example, "O17, OT7, OT17, Oliver7, Ollie7, Thorne17" and a series of things related to Oliver's personal name and number. This even included graphic trademarks of Oliver's iconic goal celebrations. These trademarks covered multiple categories such as clothing, footwear, sporting goods, electronic products, entertainment, and advertising.
Jules built a solid legal moat for Oliver's future business empire.
When Jules compiled the finalized endorsement contracts, and added Oliver's salary at Arsenal (weekly salary of 190,000 pounds, annual salary of approximately 9.88 million pounds, calculated at around 10 million euros), as well as image rights sharing (the percentage of Arsenal's 30% portion returned to Oliver personally, and the operating income from his own 70% portion, etc.).
Oliver's annual income (pre-tax) will easily exceed the 100 million euro mark!
Estimated specific breakdown:
• Club Salary: 10 million euros
• Share: 10 million euros
• Endorsement Income (only basic annual fees calculated):
Adidas: 30 million euros/year
Mercedes-Benz: 8 million euros/year
Huawei: 15 million euros/year
CK: 4 million euros/year
Red Bull: 4 million euros/year
Subtotal: 61 million euros/year
• Online Platform Entry Fees (converted to annual):
Douyin: 18 million euros (20 million US dollars ≈ 18 million euros)
TikTok: 15 million euros (17 million US dollars ≈ 15 million euros)
Tencent: 10 million euros/year
Subtotal: 43 million euros
Others (game revenue share, event appearance fees, etc.): ~10 million euros (conservative estimate)
Total: 10 million (salary) + 10 million (share) + 61 million (endorsements) + 43 million (online) + 10 million (others) = 134 million euros.
This figure is still a relatively conservative estimate, Adidas's sales commission, Huawei's potential performance-based bonuses, and more new endorsement signings in the future could further inflate this number!
At 18 years old, Ollie's annual income exceeded 100 million euros.
This is not only the pinnacle for a football player but also a top-tier existence among global sports stars. Oliver, with his three Golden Boots on the field, opened the door to a commercial empire for himself.
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