Chess World No.1 Magnus Carlsen's first love gets him upset, wants to throw Mesut Ozil jersey into the fireplace

The football world is stunned by the transfer of German footballer Mesut Özil from the Spanish club Real Madrid to Arsenal for a reported £42.5 million in a five-year deal. This ‘football world’ includes chess World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen.

Carlsen was at the Bernabeu cheering his team to a 3-0 victory in 2010. The final goal was scored by his favourite player, Gonzalo Higuain. Once the match concluded, Carlsen met several squad members, who presented him with a Kaka shirt and took pictures with the chess phenomenon.

Carlsen is a huge Real Madrid fan. He was quoted in the Norwegian press on Wednesday as saying from Oslo, “There are always reasons, but this I did not understand. I have an Özil jersey at home that I do not know what to do with. I’m considering throwing it in the fireplace!” And, Carlsen had bought this jersey!

Carlsen was invited as a special guest to Real Madrid in 2010 and owns a jersey with the players’ signatures apart from a Real scarf.

“But I’m ready to eat my words if they (Real) earn several titles and success,” added Carlsen.

The chess prodigy prefers technical Spanish football rather than English football. Magnus Carlsen follows a number of sports closely. At present, among the sports that occupy him most is the NBA even as he prepares to take on Viswanathan Anand for the World Championship title in Chennai in November.

The transfer makes Mesut Özil the most expensive German football player of all time and broke Arsenal’s previous transfer record of £16.5 million which was the value paid for Spanish midfielder Santiago Cazorla.