CELEBRITY
PSG may pursue Cristiano Ronaldo next summer
Paris Saint-Germain have been tipped to try and sign Cristiano Ronaldo next summer as a replacement for Kylian Mbappe, who is expected to join Real Madrid.
Mbappe is out of contract at PSG next summer. But while president Nasser Al-Khelaifi declared at Lionel Messi’s official unveiling this week that there is ‘no excuse’ for the young Frenchman not to sign a new contract, he could still run down his deal and move to Madrid as a free agent.
Despite his public stance, Spanish sports news outlet, AS reports that Al-Khelaifi privately believes Mbappe will not renew, despite telling him already that he won’t be leaving this summer.
It is claimed that PSG are prepared for him to leave for free next summer and already have their eye on Ronaldo as a replacement.
Ronaldo is also due to be a free agent in 2022 when his current Juventus contract expires and is seemingly a target for the French giants.
The justification appears to be that while they will receive no transfer fee for Mbappe, they will also not have to pay one for Ronaldo.
Although Ronaldo will turn 37 in February, he remains one of the best players in the world and scored another 36 goals in 44 total appearances for Juve last season, as well as five for Portugal at Euro 2020 that currently make him the joint leading men’s international goalscorer of all time.
AS note that PSG would offer the Portuguese icon a two-year contract until 2024, by which time he would be 39 and considering whether he wants to continue his playing career or carry on in a less demanding league such as MLS or in Qatar.
If PSG can pull off such a transfer it would put Ronaldo and Messi, who have won 11 Ballon d’Or awards between them and have dominated world football since the late 2000s, on the same team for the first time ever in a truly remarkable turn of events.
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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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