CELEBRITY
BARCELONA PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES UNVEIL PLANS TO KEEP MESSI AT BARCA
Lionel Messi, the FC Barcelona captain has been the centre point of campaign by the three presidential candidates of the troubled club.
According to Spanish publication, Tribuna, two of the candidates, Joan Laporta and Victor Font believe that Messi’s demand for a promising sporting project must be achieved to keep him. The third candidate, Freixa is hopeful that Messi can understand the club’s financial situation and agree a new deal that is suited for all parties.
As part of BBC, Spanish football expert Guillem Balague spoke to Victor Font, Joan Laporta and Toni Freixa to discuss how they intend on keeping Lionel Messi beyond the summer, with his Barcelona contract expiring in a few months. Here’s what they said.
Joan Laporta:
“We will make him an offer that is economically interesting. I know Messi is not thinking just about money. He needs to know Barcelona can offer him the opportunity to play in a side that is competitive enough to be winning tournaments like the Champions League again.“This is my priority and I will do the very best so we can to continue with the next chapter of the love affair.”
Victor Font:
“For us the relationship with Messi is strategic both in the short and medium term, because we obviously believe keeping Messi is key.
“Having the best player in the world and the best in history in your team is a gift so we will do everything we can to retain him. But also from an institutional perspective it is important to find a way to keep this association between us even at the time Messi retires.
“Messi himself has been telling us that these two objectives can be achieved because, despite the events that happened last summer, he has always said he would love to retire at Barcelona and he has even told us what he needs for this to happen, which is a competitive sports project.
“He has even said that in the long term he would like to be associated with the club and he wants to live here in Barcelona with his family so I believe we have all the ingredients to make it happen. We will have to be creative.”
Toni Freixa:
“Messi is the best player in the history of football and we would be proud for him to stay with us for the rest of his career.
“However, we know that his contract finishes at the end of the season so we need to be able to offer him the framework of a good deal, a good atmosphere from within the club, and a deal that has economic conditions that are sustainable.
“So we would expect to sit down with him and offer him terms that will make him decide to stay with the club for a long time and we are optimistic we will be able to count on him for the future. We believe he realises the situation at the club so we hope it won’t be difficult to reach an agreement.”
Messi’s contract will expire after the end of the season and he will reportedly wait until the new President is elected before making a decision on his future. With the likes of Manchester City and PSG circling around to sign him, whoever becomes the President will have a huge job on their hands to keep Leo at the club beyond the summer.
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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