5 of the world's most ridiculous and wild athletes' tattoos
When you have a couple of tens of millions of euros in your bank account, the world's doors are open to you. You can hire the best tattoo artist on the planet, fly them on a private jet to the Maldives, and have them transform your body into a true work of art worthy of the Louvre.
Leroy Sane: An ego the size of his back
Ask yourself: what do you need to get tattooed on your back to let everyone know how much you love yourself? German winger Leroy Sané didn't waste his time on philosophical Latin quotes or menacing lions. He simply went and got... himself tattooed all over his back.
The irony of a failed match
And this isn't an abstract portrait. Sané immortalized the moment he celebrated scoring a goal against Monaco in a Champions League match for Manchester City. The level of narcissism reached the stratosphere, but karma caught up with the German instantly.
City lost that very match and crashed out of the tournament. So Sané got a symbol of his own defeat tattooed on his back. But that's not the end of the comedy. When Leroy made his controversial move to Bayern Munich, management and fans hinted that running around with a huge emblem of another club on his back was bad form. Ultimately, the artist had to urgently paint over the City logo on Sané's shorts. A brilliant move.
Artur Boruc: Anatomical Disaster
Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc has always been known for his violent temper. He threw bottles at fans, got into fights with teammates, and regularly appeared in scandalous headlines in British tabloids. But his body art is a special kind of aesthetic terrorism.
A monkey with a secret
A grown man, a brutal, six-foot-tall goalkeeper, decided that getting an upside-down monkey tattooed around his belly button was an incredibly funny idea. And what's more, Arthur's belly button functions as, excuse me, the ape's butt.
With a tattoo like that, you'd be embarrassed to show up even at a cheap sauna on the outskirts of town, let alone on the beach. But Boruc wasn't shy at all about flaunting this masterpiece in the locker rooms of English Premier League clubs, driving his teammates into hysterical laughter.
Richarlison: Mount Rushmore of Brazilian sadness
Brazil striker Richarlison is an emotional man. After the national team's elimination from the 2022 World Cup, he fell into a deep melancholy and decided to permanently immortalize his compatriots' great names on his back. The idea was ambitious, but the execution was disappointing.
Company for an idol
He got giant portraits of Ronaldo (Nibbler) and Neymar. And in the middle, to keep the legends entertained, he slapped a portrait of himself.
It looks like a student photoshopped himself onto a fan poster featuring rock stars. A story quickly went viral in the press and on social media that Neymar, upon seeing this monumental painting, sent Richarlison 30,000 euros with one request: immediately laser-cut his face off his back. Even if this is just a fan meme, it perfectly captures the public reaction to this spoof.
Nicholas Otamendi: Netflix's Walking Billboard
Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi is the classic football thug. A man who looks like he could bite your nose off for even a sideways glance. A tough, uncompromising world champion who spares neither his own nor others' legs.
Fanaticism out of control
But as soon as this stern butcher takes off his shirt after the match, the illusion shatters. It turns out that the scourge of strikers is a devoted and very sentimental fan of modern TV series.
His entire back is densely packed with characters from popular streaming shows. There's Walter White from Breaking Bad, Thomas Shelby from Peaky Blinders, and Ragnar Lothbrok from Vikings. It looks as if Nicholas simply walked into the salon, opened the main page of the online cinema, and immediately declared to the technician, "Hit everything from the 'Popular' tab, I'm flush with cash today." There's no coherent concept, just a collection of his favorite images.
Joe Hart: When the fantasy (and paint) ran out
Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart apparently got tired of designing, searching for hidden meanings, and coordinating sketches. He approached a blackwork artist (a style where large areas of skin are simply filled with thick black pigment) and asked to create "impenetrable armor."
Oil spill victim
As a result, his shoulder and part of his right arm look as if Joe accidentally fell into a barrel of molten tar or bathed in fuel oil. Just a huge, solid black rectangle covering half the limb, without the slightest detail or shadow transition. It looks extremely gloomy and heavy. But there is one undeniable advantage: Hart doesn't have to worry at all about fine lines blurring or paint fading in the sun.