CELEBRITY
DETAILS OF LIONEL MESSI’S CONTRACT ARE NOW LAID BARE!
Lionel Messi continues to be the major headline in Barcelona after details of his eye-watering £492million contract were leaked, and now El Mundo have revealed even more staggering clauses in his deal.
According to Daily Mail in UK, El Mundo recently published the full details of the Argentine superstar’s mega-money contract at the Nou Camp, which he signed in 2017 and will end this June when the 33-year-old will be able to leave for nothing.
And now the Spanish paper have given football fans even more incredible detail into his contract with the cash-strapped giants, who have recently published their financial report for the 2019-20 season which revealed a gross debt of €1.2billion (£1bn).
The report claims that Barcelona demanded Messi, in exchange for putting pen to paper on the biggest contract in sport history, should ‘integrate into Catalan society and culture’.
Barcelona have reportedly been looking to do their all to improve Messi’s grasp of the Catalan language.
The contract also states that Messi must ‘adopt a suitable personal conduct and rhythm of life’ and not to ever engage in doping.
Finally, it has astonishingly been revealed that there was an agreement in the contract that would allow Messi to become a free agent.
The report claims that if Catalonia gained independence, Barcelona would be kicked out of LaLiga to play in a Catalan league.
It was agreed in the contract that if that was the case – with Catalonia having pushed for independence back in 2017 – then the six-time Ballon d’Or winner would automatically be able to leave for free.
The most recent revelations come after the leaked contract disclosed over the weekend that Messi has been guaranteed €138m (£122m) per season in gross salary.
He earned a ‘renewal fee’ of €115m (£102m) for accepting the contract and is said to take home €79m (£69m) each year in a ‘loyalty’ bonus for staying at the Nou Camp.
The report from El Mundo went on to claim that Messi still has five months left on his current deal and has already earned an eye-watering £452m (€511m) so far.
The Spanish newspaper put both his normal contract and image rights under the microscope before breaking down where certain variables were met since the 2017-18 campaign.
As a part of his current deal, Messi earned an extra £616,172 (€695,748) for winning FIFA’s Best Player award during the 2018-19 campaign.
The Argentine is also guaranteed a whopping £3.1m (€3.5m) if Barcelona win the Champions League – something the club hasn’t achieved since 2015.
Other variables include Messi banking another £1.75m (€1.9m) if he plays 60 per cent of games, while he will receive extra payments for each knockout stage of the Champions League he reached, as well as winning LaLiga and the Copa del Rey.
The newspaper ran the original story under a headline that said Messi will ‘ruin Barcelona’ with the Argentine star planning to pursue legal action against El Mundo and anyone at the club found to have passed on the confidential information.
Since the finer details of the contract were published, the club’s former president Josep Bartomeu denied being behind the sensational leak.
Much-maligned Bartomeu resigned from the club last October and his relationship with Messi soured when he wasn’t allowed to leave last summer.
‘It’s completely false [I was involved in the leak],’ he told TV3 in Spain. ‘This is a very serious issue because it’s completely illegal to leak any professional contract to the media.
‘It’s easy to make accusations but this is not a joke and it’s going to end up in court.
‘Messi deserves everything he earns, be that for professional or commercial reasons. Without the pandemic, Barcelona would be more than capable of paying those numbers.’
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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