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Barcelona — Barcelona’s Argentinian striker Lionel Messi, who recently extended his contract with the Catalan club, is “the best paid player in the world,” club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said yesterday.
Barcelona announced Wednesday that Messi had agreed to extend his contract until 2021, in a deal that will keep the five times winner of the Ballon D’Or at the club until he is 34.
No financial terms were disclosed but Bartomeu told the Barcelona sports daily Mundo Deportivo: “He is the best player in the world and he is paid like the best in the world and in the history of football.
“He is the best paid sports player, because no one brings as much to his club as Leo Messi.”
Prior to his contract extension, Messi was the third highest paid sportsman in the world with an income of $80 million of which $53 million was in salary and bonuses, according to the ranking published by Forbes magazine in June.
His great rival, Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, topped the ranking with $93 million, of which 58 million was in salary and bonuses, ahead of American basketball player LeBron James ($86.2 million of which 31.2 million in salary and bonuses).
Meanwhile, A Spanish court said yesterday it has exchanged a 21-month prison sentence handed to Lionel Messi for tax fraud last July for a quarter-of-a-million-euro fine.
The Barcelona player and his father were found guilty by a Catalan court last year of three counts of tax fraud to the tune of 4.1 million euros ($4.68 million) over income earned from image rights.
The father also had his 15-month sentence exchanged for a fine of 180 000 euros, the court said.
Neither Messi or his father would have served time in jail following the original ruling as defendants without a previous conviction are permitted to serve any sentence of under two years on probation. — AFP/Reuters
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