Akanji, Lampard, Mata: 13 of the cleverest footballers ever

Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji wowed everyone with his incredible mathematic skills this weekend.

The defender has the amazing ability to answer any sum in a matter of milliseconds.

So impressive.

Footballers aren’t known for being the most intelligent bunch but Akanji certainly isn’t included in that generalisation.

But he’s not alone.

There are a number of footballers past or present that are actually pretty clever.

And to pay tribute to all those footballers that listened in school despite the dream of becoming a professional sportsman – or those who have used their spare time to study for degrees – we’ve decided to highlight 14 rather clever guys.

Romelu Lukaku

Lukaku can speak an incredible EIGHT languages. The Inter Milan can speak German, English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch and a Swahili dialect.

If that wasn’t enough, he’s also got a degree in tourism and international relations.

Juan Mata

One of football’s nicest footballers. Mata set up the ‘Common Goal’ charity which encourages professional footballers to pledge at least one per cent of their salaries to support football charities around the world.

During his time at Manchester United, Mata studied for degrees in both finance and sports science.

Andrey Arshavin 

The former Arsenal man launched his own clothing range during his playing days having achieved a degree from the St Petersburg State University of Technology and Design.

Simon Mignolet

The former Liverpool goalkeeper owns a coffee shop in Belgium and also possesses a degree in law and political sciences.

Frank Lampard

According to a report in The Sun, the Everton manager scored an incredible 150 on an IQ test with Mensa, landing him amongst the most intelligent 0.1 percent of the