Lionel Messi Photo: VCG

 

Lionel Messi's fortunes at Barcelona have been the talk of the summer transfer window after the Argentine tried to leave the club where he has played since travelling to its famed La Masia academy as a young teenager.

The Blaugrana captain was in open warfare with the club's board after sending a burofax to them declaring his intention to leave, with most observers assuming that his most likely destination was a reunion with former manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Confusion over the eligibility of a release clause in Messi's contract saw his club side threaten legal action, insisting that they would only let him go if his full 700 million euro release clause was met by interested parties in Manchester or anywhere else for that matter. This stance was backed by La Liga, with Spanish football league's own suits saying that the contract stands with the release clause and any previous clauses have lapsed.

So Messi will be in Barcelona one more season but it is not all bad news, whatever happens on the pitch this season after a trophyless last campaign his own personal fortunes are on the up - and as has been pointed out he has actually joined a new club after all, argaubly the most exclusive of all athletes.

According to Forbes magazine, Messi has now become one of the handful of billionaire athletes after his collected earnings over his career passed the $1 billion mark this year.

This year, Messi topped the list for the best-paid player in football thanks to Barca paying him $92 million and his personal endorsements contributing another $34 million to the Messi coffers. That saw him overtake last year's highest-paid footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, whose $117 million for the year was only good enough for second place. However, the Portuguese player did beat Messi into the billionaire's club, even if the Argentine currently has one more Ballon d'Or award than he does.

Brazil's Neymar was the third highest earning footballer this year with $96 million in large part from his Paris St-Germain salary. The world record transfer fee holder can expect to join Messi and Ronaldo on the list of football billionaires at some point in the coming years.

Outside of football, the next likely candidates are tennis superstar Roger Federer and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James who are both closing in on the mark - and perhaps sooner rather than later after he swapped long-term boot sponsor Nike for Puma earlier this month.

Outside of football, the next likely candidates are tennis superstar Roger Federer and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James who are both closing in on the mark.

But just who else has Messi joined?

Michael Jordan

The basketball superstar has returned to the public consciousness over the course of the year, in large part thanks to him being the main feature of the Netlfix and ESPN coproduced documentary The Last Dance.

Jordan, a six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls including in that final season depicted in the documentary, may have been sport's first billionaire but he did not actually earn most of his money from basketball.

No, the lion's share of it came after he had hung up his own basketball shoes and helped Nike sell millions more pairs to other people under his eponymous Jordan brand, which has driven the sneaker industry into becoming worth billions on it its own. Jordan, the athlete, has parlayed that into other business interests including as an owner of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets.

Floyd Mayweather

There is a reason why the boxer, who has an undefeated fight record of 50-0, is known not only as "Pretty Boy" and "The Best Ever" but also "Money." He has amassed an awful lot of it over his career in the ring, which began in the amateurs and saw him win a bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Mayweather started making money for himself rather than others after leaving Bob Arum's Top Rank promotions and starting his own, Mayweather promotions. That saw him top the Forbes list for the year's highest-earning athletes in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. He then topped the Forbes list for top-earning athletes of the decade when it was revealed last year - having amassed $915 million for just 10 fights in as many years.

The American retired from the ring in 2017 after earning $275 million from his bout with UFC star Conor McGregor, which was the richest bout in history. He also earned a fortune with his fights against Philippine champ Manny Pacquiao.

Tiger Woods

The chances of the golfer ever matching Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 ­majors slips away with every passing year - and it certainly was not helped by the coronavirus pandemic putting the calendar on pause for much of the year - but Woods has already surpassed everyone else in the sport.

Woods was making $100 million a year - with an estimated 90 percent of it from lucrative endorsements -  and had amassed $1 billion fortune in the years leading up to 2010, becoming the first athlete to do so strictly from their sporting career. 

That year was when he took a break from the course after admitting infidelity in his marriage but he has bounced back on and off the course.

While his fortune might have been hit in recent years, there is no doubt of his status in the club - Forbes said he earned at least $1.4 billion just from sponsorships over his career.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The aforementioned Ronaldo has had a different career path from Messi, beginning at Sporting Lisbon in his native Portugal before moving to Manchester United, Real Madrid and now ­Juventus. He has been well paid at all of them and deservedly so as he has helped them all to trophies while filling his own personal trophy collection with the biggest individual honors. More importantly for his earning power have been the deals with commercial partners such as Nike. Ronaldo may have been the first footballer in the club but he has shown the way and it is unlilkely that he and Messi will be the last.