If you blinked at some point in the last two years, there’s every chance Thomas Vermaelen’s Barcelona spell will have passed you by.
Currently on loan as AS Roma, the Belgian defender was beset by injuries during his first two seasons at Camp Nou to the point that he had to wait a full nine months to make his competitive debut.
It won’t have come as too much of a surprise to Arsenal fans, who saw the former club captain start just seven Premier League games in his final season at the Emirates Stadium.
But the lack of game-time hasn’t stopped the 31-year-old making a tidy amount in win bonuses after winning being nearby as his Barcelona teammates won seven trophies in his first two seasons.
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Belgian publication Le Soir reports thatVermaelen has made €600,000 (more than half a million pounds) in trophy bonuses since trading London for Catalunya, on top of his seven-figure annual salary.
That’s a lot for anyone, but it’s an absolutely incredible hourly rate for a man who – according to Soccerbase data – played just 1,334 competitive minutes in a Barcelona shirt.
If we consider all minutes equal, that amounts to more than €449 (£379) per minute played (excluding injury time on the grounds that the mere concept of irony would explode), or nearly €27,000 (nearly £22,800) for every hour spent on the pitch.
If you take out the Spanish Super Cup and Club World Cup – competitions for which Barcelona had already qualified without Vermaelen’s input – the figure rises to €485 per minute, or just shy of £410.
And that’s before you bear in mind that Barça‘s 2014/15 treble of La Liga, Copa Del Rey and Champions League was achieved with Vermaelen playing a grand total of 63 minutes – in a 2-2 league draw with Deportivo La Coruña when the title had already been wrapped up.
In his defence, Barcelona were 2-0 up when he was withdrawn. Guess he’s earned that €600,000 after all.
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