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Change Your Life! |
Rivaldo: 1 of world's highest-paid players |
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August 3, 2000
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Stung by the departure of Luis Figo, FC Barcelona has managed to hold on to its other big superstar, Rivaldo, by raising his salary to more than dlrs 5.6 million per year, news reports said Wednesday. The deal, which more than doubles Rivaldo's salary and makes him one of the world's highest-paid soccer players, was reached late Tuesday in talks with Barcelona's new president Joan Gaspart. The agreement retains the 15 billion peseta (dlrs 84 million) buyout clause included in Rivaldo's contract. The latter was not extended, and still runs through June 2003, newspapers said. Neither Rivaldo nor Gaspart would talk numbers, but Spanish media put the Brazilian midfielder's new after-tax salary at more than a billion pesetas (dlrs 5.6 million per year). Two sports dailies, Marca and As, put the figure at 1.1 billion pesetas (dlrs 6.2 million). Reports said Rivaldo had held out for as much as 1.3 billion pesetas (dlrs 7.3 million) but backed down in exchange for Barcelona's agreeing not to beef up his buyout clause. Rivaldo, who transferred to Barcelona from Spanish side Deportivo in 1997, complained last season that then-president Josep Luis Nunez reneged on a promise to sweeten his contract and made clear that unless he got more money he would seek employment elsewhere. Emerging from Tuesday night's salary talks in Barcelona, Rivaldo said: "I am pleased. I always said I was happy with Barcelona. This dispute surfaced, but I always believed I would remain here." Gaspart blamed archrival Real Madrid for the latest bout of salary inflation in Spanish soccer. Last month, debt-laden Real acquired Figo by paying Barcelona dlrs 60 million to cover his buyout clause and then setting Figo's yearly salary at 800 million pesetas (dlrs 4.4 million). Of Rivaldo's raise, Gaspart said: "This has happened because of other people's earlier madness, but now it's all over. We are entering a more stable phase." Prior to raising Rivaldo's salary Barcelona rejected a transfer offer from AC Milan. Rivaldo was to join the rest of the team Wednesday at its preseason training camp in the Dutch town of Hoenderloo.
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