Oi! You can say what like about my children but never criticise my semantics!!

OED: "a hired soldier in foreign service"

It comes from the Latin merces, reward.

And of course it's been extended by metaphor to anyone who does anything purely for the money - even lawyers get accused of being mercenary from time to time. So of course non-foreign (in a nationality sense) footballers get called mercenaries, durr. But its origin is firmly rooted in foreign nationals fighting for money. And it's not racist to call someone a mercenary just because they're foreign.

FWIW I don't think we have any mercenaries ie cynical players who don't care about the club. Well maybe Shitty Ricky. Bassong isn't a mercenary doing it just for the money - he's trying his bollocks off. But it's not racist to call him a mercenary.

Posted By: Old Git, May 12, 11:26:37