The Spanish Minister of Culture and Sports, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, has described the contract of soccer player Leo Messi with FC Barcelona as “exorbitant” and he has affirmed that although in a market society you cannot put caps on these emoluments, “we have a problem with what it means.”
“It is true that these exorbitant things collide a lot”, He has admitted in an interview on Telemadrid collected by Globe Live Media, when asked about the figures for the Argentine forward’s contract, which amount to more than 555 million euros gross for four seasons, revealed last Sunday by the newspaper ‘El Mundo’.
In his opinion, these salaries in the world of football come from behind, and not only in Spain, but throughout the world, although “Now it is more visible in a crisis situation and when people have a bad time.”
“This defines us a bit as a society,” he said, and advocated “seeing things differently.” “You have to think that who has to be well paid is science, and football, well, but it is true that these exorbitant things collide a lot.”
Asked if he would put “a cap” on these salaries, he recalled that it does not depend on him and that we live in a “capitalist, open and market society”. “But it seems to me that from a moral point of view”, he continued, without finishing the sentence.
In addition, he recalled that the Government “has done something that goes just in the opposite direction”, referring to a pact between the League, the Higher Sports Council and the Spanish Football Federation so that in this context of a pandemic the rights of television matches that are broadcast, held without an audience, can be distributed to other minority sports “that are having a very bad time” through a foundation.
On the other hand, has opined that there will be Olympic Games in Tokyo in July based on the information received from the International Olympic Committee through the Spanish Olympic Committee and by the manifestations of the Japanese authorities.
“Surely not with the stadiums full, controls will have to be made,” he said, but he does hope that they will be a “moment of reunion” and a change of horizon.