HEART OF MATA
As Neymar picks up £49m a year Reds midfielder Juan pledges a cut of his wages for children’s charities and calls on other players to follow his lead
BIG-HEARTED Juan Mata has launched a crusade to persuade players to give something back.
Many fans were sickened by the £3,000 an hour Neymar will pocket at Paris Saint-Germain.
But Manchester United midfielder Mata is to donate one per cent of his salary to Common Goal, a charity which supports deprived children in more than 120 countries.
The Spaniard challenged his fellow
pros to join him, and called on FIFA and UEFA to back his campaign.
He said: “Football generates a lot of money but there has to be a social responsibility that goes with that. It can positively affect people’s lives.
“Football sometimes has a bad reputation. Some of that is deserved, some isn’t. There’s a huge amount of money in the game. I’m not criticising that.
“Through Common Goal we’re creating a way for football to give back to society. I urge my fellow players to get involved. “The idea is brilliant.” Mata aims to form a world XI of like-minded players to drive the one per cent initiative forward.
He added: “One of the first lessons I learned in football is it takes a team to win a game. By making the pledge, we can form a lasting connection between football as a business and football as a tool for social change.”
Common Goal is run by streetfootballworld which supports football-based charities around the world.