SALESMAN MESSI READY TO FLOG ANYTHING INCLUDING HIS LEGACY
LIONEL MESSI is unlikely to win another Ballon d’or, but that will probably not matter to him.
It looks like it is only the Or part he is interested in now. The gold. And there is plenty of it, according to the Forbes sporting rich list, which claims Messi – in the year ending May 1, 2022 – earned £107million.
That is enough for him to be the highest-paid athlete in the world, ahead of the NBA’S Lebron James.
Of course, his huge salary at Paris Saint-germain helps – conservative estimates suggest it is not far south of a million euros a week.
But Messi’s wage now appears to be merely topping up his commercial income.
And right now there does not seem to be much Messi (right) is not prepared to sell.
Holidays to a country which has a plaza known as Chop Chop Square because it is where they behead people? Tick.
Cryptocurrencies that are notoriously volatile and have become highly controversial? Tick. Beer? Crisps? Video games? Fizzy drinks? Tick, tick, tick, tick. This is becoming the year of Messi the marketer, rather than Messi the magician.
Truly great sportsmen and women using their fame and profile for commercial gain is absolutely nothing new. Why wouldn’t they? If, for example, a luxury watch company is prepared to pay you fortunes to put one of their £200,000-a-pop timepieces on your wrist, why would you say no? Messi didn’t. That is fine, but other commercial liaisons should jar.
The Saudi connection, for example.
Messi has been rightly lauded for his involvement with UNICEF and for the work of his charitable foundation.
How does that tally with his paid-for support for a state that still executes people and is routinely accused of shocking violations of human rights?
And what Messi gives that state is, essentially, access to his social-media reach – there are 35million followers on Instagram alone for arguably the greatest footballer of all time.
Messi is now a Saudi Arabian poster boy.
And he is a poster boy for a cryptocurrency company.
No human rights issues there – only myriad tales of people who have been tempted into investing, but lost their hardearned money.
Their fault, of course. No one has frogmarched you to your bank account. But, in these times, is it really a good look to have mega-rich footballers – and clubs, by the way – telling hard-up fans it is good to put whatever spare money they have into high-risk ventures?
It seems that Chelsea are signing a £20m sponsorship deal with one of these cryptocurrency firms.
Even some of football’s governing bodies are considering doing the same, apparently.
Who says the romance and traditions of football are not dead?
To a great extent, of course, Messi is simply doing what they all do. Cristiano Ronaldo is only two places behind him on the rich list, thanks to his array of commercial deals.
But when I think of Messi, I always want to think about his slaloming brilliance, his beautiful goals – not the cyberselling and sports-washing.
That would be sad.