Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Arsenal, AC Milan, Football, Cristiano Ronaldo
Joe Adams
Former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini is now worth 20 times as much as Cristiano Ronaldo, following his lucrative business ventures.
Flamini arrived at Arsenal in 2004, where he went on to spend four years before packing his bags for AC Milan.
He later returned in 2013, scoring a memorable brace against north London rivals Tottenham in 2015.
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The Frenchman made over 100 appearances for the Gunners in total, helping them lift two FA Cups during his two stints at the club.
However, he has since taken his career in a very different direction.
After hanging up his boots in 2019, Flamini decided to make a U-turn from football and is now worth an astonishing £10billion, according to Forbes.
This would make him considerably richer than Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who is reported to have a net worth of around $500 million (£363m), claim GOAL.
During his time at AC Milan, Flamini took the first steps in creating GF Biochemicals, one of the world’s leading companies in building a greener future.
The 39-year-old's aim was to find sustainable alternatives to oil-based products, as he seeks to reverse the damage done by harmful petrochemicals, which can be found in plastics, rubber, and even shower gel.
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Some 13 years on, and Flamini is the CEO, holding a 60% stake in the business.
Discussing his new-found entrepreneur lifestyle in an interview with French news outlet LesEchos, Flamini opened up on ditching football pitches for boardrooms, and how his life has changed.
“My teachers must be surprised! Having left for Arsenal at 19, I now speak English as well as French and I run a biochemistry company!”
“I am hyperactive. I have trouble sitting still during conference calls. Often I turn off the camera and walk.
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“I not only want but need to spend myself. I train at least five times a week. If you look for me after 7pm, you’re likely to find me running in Hyde Park, London, where I live, or, more recently, doing yoga.
“It allows me to disconnect intellectually. At work, I am surrounded by super sharp PhDs, I learn a lot but I evolve outside my comfort zone. It’s sometimes exhausting to be the least intelligent in the room!”
Flamini added: “I had the chance to have a rather long career at Marseille, Arsenal, AC Milan. But for fifteen years there has not been a day when I have not woken up without pain, physical or mental.
“You have to live with it. A good preparation for the life of a entrepreneur! In twelve years, I would have had hundreds of reasons to quit.
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“As in high-level sport, when you have to perform on the field in front of 60,000 spectators, you have to absorb enormous pressure. Either you commit 200 per cent or you disappear.”