There’s no question that Diego Simeone is the best thing to ever happen to Atletico Madrid. The Argentine’s appointment in December of 2011 ushered in the club’s most successful spell in the modern era. That Simeone has been able to accomplish as much during the height of Lionel Messi’s powers at Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo’s at Real Madrid only adds to his legend.
In the early days of football and throughout most of the 20th century, it wasn’t uncommon for players to stay at a club for their entire career. Legends such as Santiago Bernabeu, Giampero Boniperti, Lev Yashin and dozens of others all stayed with one team for decades. It was kind of the thing to do.
Lionel Messi has agreed to sign a new contract with Barcelona, but Messi has not actually signed said contract yet.
This is obviously not good for Barcelona, who have to deal with the fallout from Neymar's transfer. Messi's current deal runs out after this season, but Barcelona have always maintained Messi would stay at the Camp Nou. It seemed like that was a certainty when La Pulga's new deal was announced earlier in the summer, to be officially signed when Messi showed up for pre-season training.
In a statement Thursday, Barcelona announced the fee to trigger Neymar's release clause had been paid by Neymar and his father, making the Brazilian attacker a free agent.
Barcelona's statement in full:
So, Neymar to PSG is really heating up now. After Barcelona admitted Neymar said he wanted to leave and Messi said goodbye on Instagram, the Brazilian forward is reportedly in Porto to undergo a medical. The big story right now (read: for like the next 15 minutes until something else insane happens) is Neymar's PSG contract, which, according to Sky Sports, is a whopper.
The United States is used to being the best at everything, from income to athletics. When it comes to the economy of sports, there are two areas where America lags far behind its overseas counterparts: soccer and eSports.
In soccer, European leagues attract the biggest stars with the biggest salaries. In eSports, South Korean and Chinese players earn more per capita than those in the U.S. and are treated like rock stars.
This begs the question: Who is better paid, players in Major League Soccer or eSports? The answer isn’t quite clear cut.
Patrick Kluivert's 9-year-old son Shane has just signed a five-year deal with Nike. The youngest Kluivert has already made a name for himself with a massive social media following that includes 130K followers on Instagram and his own Youtube channel. Oh, and he’s also not bad at football.
Mino Raiola, the architect of Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan's moves to Manchester United last summer (and Romelu Lukaku's this summer!), is about one thing only: getting his clients (and by extension himself) that money.
Lionel Messi joined Barcelona’s La Masia youth academy at the age of 13, and his latest contract extension with the club will see him remain there until he’s 34. According to FC Barcelona, Messi has agreed to an extension through June 30, 2021, and the Argentinean will officially sign the deal in the coming weeks, when he returns to the club for preseason training.
United States U-17 striker Tim Weah has signed his first professional contract with Paris Saint-Germain, a three-year deal that will keep the player at the club until 2020.
Tim, like his older brother George Jr. before him, is scrutinized more than your average footballer by virtue of being the son of George Weah, the 1995 Ballon d’Or winner.
George Weah making Bayern Munich look silly in 1994.... pic.twitter.com/UsH83GbdRK