The New York Times newspaper reveals the conditions and amounts and that the Argentine would have received should he have opted for a move to the Gulf nation.
On 9 May (2022), a photo shared by Lionel Messi on his social media networks kicked off his lucrative partnership with the government of Saudi Arabia. The player was on board a boat, posing like a professional model and with the sun setting, the Argentine player confessed that he was “discovering the Red Sea”. Since his contract as an ambassador for the Visit Saudi tourist board, speculation was rife that the Rosario native would hang up his boots playing for a Saudi Pro League team.
Highly respected daily The New York Times has revealed details of a previously undisclosed financial outline for the player and the Saudi tourist board that has already seen the striker pocket approximately 2 million dollars for the original Instagram post. The revelation states that Messi is set to receive over 20 million dollars over three years in exchange for commercial appearances, a handful of publications on social networks and vacations with all expenses paid by Saudi tourism authorities.
Of course, the player cannot speak ill of the Gulf nation with the exercise another chapter in the ongoing effort to mask nation’s human rights violations and the treatment of women.
For now, Messi is complying with the terms of the contract with a series of promotional posts appearing on the striker’s social media networks. In May he visited the country and shared photos with his wife and children petting horses or playing at the fair: “We spent a beautiful day exploring Diriyah as a family, a place with 300 years of history where the Saudi state was born,” he wrote.