World Cup: All White Tim Payne not planning to commercialise newfound fame any time soon

Tim Payne won’t look to make money off his newfound fame any time soon and his cult-hero status “hasn’t fazed him at all”, according to his agent.

Payne’s social media following has exploded from about 4000 followers on Instagram a few days ago to almost 1.5 million after Argentine influencer El Scarso, whose real name is Valen Scarsini, encouraged his fans to make the defender the “hero” of this year’s Fifa World Cup because of his small following at the time.

The Wellington Phoenix defender took to social media to thank all of his fans in a video that now has over 1 million likes and has been viewed more than 9.5 million times.

Payne’s agent Tony Rallis told Newstalk ZB the attention hasn’t changed the defender’s tournament preparation.

“[It] hasn’t fazed him at all, Tim’s focused on the World Cup,” Rallis said.

“It honestly has not, most of the conversation is, ‘oh, did you see what’s happened blah blah’ and then it was about the World Cup and what that could mean for the New Zealand national team and obviously for individual players.

All Whites defender Tim Payne has seen his social media following grow to more than 1.5 million people. Photo / Photosport

“So no, for me, nothing’s changed, I know this sounds like a cliche comment, but it’s the truth.”

Rallis said when he spoke to Payne about the sudden surge in followers the footballer stayed reserved as usual.

“Typical Tim, very reserved, had a bit of a giggle about it.

“I told him that these are the moments that you probably need to tell your story a bit more because you know, like New Zealand is famous for players that have had to go the long way to succeed.”

However, Rallis said Payne won’t be looking to make some extra cash from his fans any time soon.

“I think if you try and commercialise something that’s on the back of fan emotion and fan romance heading into a World Cup, you try and commercialise something like that you take away the authenticity and I’m not sure Tim’s that way inclined.

“We’ve had some discussions about how to manage it but not in any depth.

“I’m speaking to some experts that are better equipped than me, my job’s to place players, negotiate contracts and in some cases transfer players, but not this space.

“And I think we just got to take a step back and, and accept what’s happening, enjoy what’s happening and not try and commercialise something that’s authentic.”

Payne is in Florida with the All Whites, who are preparing for their warm-up matches against Haiti on Wednesday and England next Sunday.