.png)
Jay Bothroyd took an unusual path at the end of his playing career, spending several years banging in the goals in Thailand and Japan.
Arsenal academy graduate Bothroyd made his name as a striker for Coventry City and a handful of clubs in the EFL before an impressive spell at Cardiff City that earned him a single England cap in 2010.
But it was an early stint at Perugia that hinted at the wanderlust that took him to Thailand's Muangthong United as a free agent in 2014.
Unlike a lot of the European players who find their way into Thai football, Bothroyd caught the eye of bigger clubs and made a step up. He signed for Jubilo Iwata, competing at the time in J2, the second division in Japan.
Advert
In 2015, Bothroyd's goals fired the Shizuoka side back to J1. He scored 20 times in 32 matches that season and, he says, earned an absolute packet from every single one of them.
Speaking on Adebayo Akinfenwa's Beast Mode podcast, the 43-year-old revealed the crazy goal bonus he was offered by his first Japanese club.
"I'll tell you one of my bonuses. You'll love this," Bothroyd said.
"$10,000 goal bonus. Per goal. I was like, 'Per goal? Per game?' He said, 'Any competitive game.'
"I was like, alright. So I added up where it would be like mid- to low-level [Premier League] wages, but I'm good with that because I'm 30, I've got a two-year deal, one-year option, which is great.
"That season I scored 20. Boom, straight off. And we got promotion."
Bothroyd's J.League swansong
Jubilo Iwata went up as champions and stayed in J1 in 2016 thanks in part to 14 top-flight goals from Bothroyd.
He scored another 35 J1 League goals in a five-season spell at Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo before retiring in 2021.
Bothroyd's first club in Japan, three-time champions in the J.League era and also a former club of World Cup winner Dunga and Salvatore Schillaci, stayed in the top division for another three seasons before they were relegated in 2019.
They have been either promoted from J2 or relegated from J1 in each of the last four seasons.
Chris Nee