CELEBRITY
‘Welcome Leo’ – Messi meets teammates at first PSG training session
After a rapturous reception and raucous unveiling from the fans on Wednesday (Aug 11), Lionel Messi got to know his new teammates at Paris Saint-Germain’s Camp des Loges training facility on Thursday.
Much has been made of the Argentinian superstar lining up with Brazil’s Neymar and France striker Kylian Mbappe in what will be a fearsome attack for PSG in their quest to win a maiden Champions League.
World Cup winner Mbappe was one of the first to extend his welcome to Messi after his official arrival and the 22-year-old posted his best wishes to the newcomer on social media.
Mbappe has been linked with a move to Real Madrid with only a year left of his PSG contract.
“Welcome to Paris, Leo,” Mbappe wrote alongside photos with the pair hugging.
The 34-year-old former Barcelona player has been on downtime since winning the Copa America with Argentina in July, and started his first PSG run-out with simple physical exercises.
“I’ve been out of action for around a month and I need to get physically ready. I hope to be ready as soon as possible, because I can’t wait to play,” Messi said at his unveiling at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.
He is unlikely to make his debut for PSG soon, and certainly not this weekend when Mauricio Pochettino’s team play Strasbourg in Ligue 1.
“I can’t tell you when my first game will be but I can tell you I’m dying to get started,” he said. “I want it to be soon.”
Messi only arrived in the French capital on Tuesday before penning a two-year contract with the option of a third season.
The club also revealed on Thursday that it had paid a signing-on bonus to the player in PSG’s own virtual currency which it calls $PSG Fan Tokens, originally sold at €2 (S$3.20) each and currently trading over €30 each.
“The coins are there to create a link between the fans and the club, and it’s the first time we have used them in this way,” the Parisians said in a statement without saying how many they had given to Messi.
PSG quickly emerged as the favourites to sign Messi following the shock of his departure last week from Barcelona and he arrives eyeing a fifth Champions League, with the most recent of his four victories with his old club coming in 2015.
PSG are reportedly paying €35 million (S$55.8 million) a year to Messi, who will wear the No. 30 jersey – with fans continuing to line up outside the club’s different shops in the capital to buy the shirt with his name and number on the back.
-AFP
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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