Miguel Delaney: How PSG's ‘kingmaker' seized chance to reshape football's future
If you are one of the UK's many new padel enthusiasts, it's ultimately because of one man, who you might not expect. He is going to be prominent at Saturday's Champions League final, and has already appeared in a social media-friendly CBS interview with Micah Richards after the semi-final.
That is Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. A former tennis professional, he saw the potential in padel, and put Qatar's immense financial weight behind the new sport. Qatar Sports Investments, who also own PSG, control Premier Padel and the World Padel Tour.
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Irish Daily Mirror
25 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Gerrard's huge net worth and daughter's relationship with Kinahan mobster's son
The most coveted trophy in European club football was on the line over the weekend as Paris Saint-Germain defeated Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Munich. PSG ran out 5-0 winners in Saturday's decider to become only the second French side to win the trophy after Marseille in 1993. A global audience of millions tuned in to witness the highly anticipated showdown, with TNT Sports providing the UK broadcast. Laura Woods led the coverage, supported by an impressive panel of pundits including Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Karen Carney and Owen Hargreaves. Gerrard, naturally, is no stranger to Champions League glory, having hoisted the trophy as Liverpool's captain following their extraordinary comeback victory over AC Milan in the 2005 Istanbul final, reports Wales Online. An Anfield icon, the former midfielder retired in 2016, drawing the curtain on a career that saw him clinch numerous individual accolades, two FA Cups, three League Cups, a UEFA Cup and a UEFA Super Cup. Since hanging up his boots, Gerrard has transitioned into management, helming Rangers, Aston Villa and Saudi Arabian team Al-Ettifaq. However, he parted ways with the Saudi Pro League side in January. Here's a glimpse into the life of the Liverpool legend away from the pitch: Following a profitable playing career, Gerrard boasts an impressive estimated net worth of around £75 million, as per 888Sports. It's believed that he raked in approximately £22.5 million over his career, which spanned 17 years at Liverpool before he hung up his boots at MLS side LA Galaxy. The 45 year old has also pocketed a tidy sum in management, reportedly earning a whopping £15.2 million-a-year salary while managing Al-Ettifaq. This salary placed Gerrard as the fourth-highest paid manager globally at the time, with only Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone out-earning him. His substantial net worth has been further bolstered by various sponsorship deals throughout his career, endorsing brands such as Adidas, Jaguar and Lucozade. This month, Gerrard marks 18 years of wedded bliss with his wife Alex Curran, having said their vows in a lavish Buckinghamshire ceremony in June 2007. Interestingly, the pair - who began dating in 2002 - tied the knot on the same day as his England teammates Gary Neville and Michael Carrick. Formerly a nail technician, Curran later transitioned into modelling and worked as a fashion columnist for the Daily Mirror and OK! Magazine. Together, the couple have four children - Lilly-Ella, Lexie, Lourdes and Lio. During Gerrard's stint with Al-Ettifaq, Curran and the kids opted for the glitz of Bahrain over Saudi Arabia, living it up in a swanky villa. While helming Rangers, the ex-Liverpool star confessed his missus would have him chuck in football management "tomorrow" to ease the strain on their home life. He poured his heart out on the High Performance Podcast: "There are times when it dominates your life and you can't control that. That's what it is. "But there will be a stage in my life where I have to give it up, for the sake of my family and for myself. To cut it, and live life with a bit of peace. There's got to be a stage of your life where you have calm and peace, but at the moment I don't feel ready for it. "I do still feel full of energy. I do think I can help players. I do see opportunities to have more highs, and buzzes, and adrenaline rushes. "For Alex and the kids, at some stage, I'm going to have to give me self to them, 100%. When that will be, who knows? Alex would take it tomorrow. She'd take it tomorrow." Gerrard went on to add: "Alex is the one who brings me down, when I've come in, and think I'm fantastic. If I've scored a goal, or we've won a game, she pipes me down. "And when you're on the floor, and you're staring at the wall, she's the one who helps pick you up." In January, Gerrard's eldest daughter Lilly-Ella revealed that she is expecting her first child with boyfriend Lee Byrne. The 20-year-old took to her social media with a snap of her positive pregnancy test, captioning the image: "Our little secret. "The best news," she continued. "Mini us is on the way." Her partner Lee is the son of notorious Dublin criminal Liam Byrne, who was sentenced to five years in prison for weapons charges in October 2024. Meanwhile, Lee's grandfather, James 'Jaws' Byrne, who died last year at the age of 77, was a career criminal. Nevertheless, according to LBC, Gerrard doesn't treat Lee any differently than he would anyone else and expressed his excitement at the prospect of becoming a grandad at just 45. Reacting to Lilly-Ella's big reveal, he said: "We can't wait, great news and congratulations - we love you."
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Bruno Fernandes sent message by former Premier League star over Al-Hilal transfer as Man Utd star remains in talks
AN ex-Premier League star has encouraged Bruno Fernandes to join him at Al-Hilal. The Manchester United captain's agent Miguel Pinho held talks over a 2 Bruno Fernandes remains in talks with Al-Hilal Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 2 Ruben Neves wants the Man Utd captain to join him in Saudi Arabia Credit: Getty The amount could still increase with journalist Fabrizio Romano claiming the club will do "whatever it takes" to get their "top target". Talks with both Al-Hilal and READ MORE ON MAN UTD A move to the Riyadh-based side would see him become team-mates with ex-Premier League aces Ruben Neves, Joao Cancelo, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Kalidou Koulibaly. And Portuguese compatriot Neves is keen for Fernandes to join him. Asked about conversations with him, the former Wolves captain told O Jogo: "I recommend any player who is in the national team. "We have a lot of talent. We are lucky in that aspect. A small country, but with excellent players, just yesterday four won the Champions League. That makes any child dream. Most read in Football JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS "I would like to have any player from the national team in my team." Neves left Wolves in 2023 for £47m and he reportedly pockets £15.6m-a-year in Saudi. Bruno Fernandes enjoys dinner with Al-Hilal 'secret agent' Joao Cancelo as he faces Man Utd exit decision His comments come after Fernandes was spotted having It is likely a reunion at Al-Hilal was on the menu as fans think the old Manchester City star was "playing agent". Asked if Man Utd's post-season friendly against Hong Kong last Friday was Fernandes' farewell game, Ruben Amorim replied: ' 'He is seeing us taking some actions to change all the things and I think that is all that he wants to stay. 'He's saying 'no' to a lot of things, but it shows that he wants to win. "He's really young, he's really good. He needs to be in the best league in the world.' Join SUN CLUB for the Man Utd Files every Thursday plus in-depth coverage and exclusives from Old Trafford
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Désiré Doué joins the global A-list to lead PSG's coronation as kings of Europe
The third great Moment of Doué was beautiful for its simplicity, 63 minutes into this game and with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) 2-0 up. As Désiré Doué glided in on goal, all alone suddenly in a wide open patch of green, he was found by a deliciously weighted through pass from Vitinha. From there Doué allowed the ball to run across him as the retreating Inter defenders closed at his back, a perfect little screenshot of time, space, angles, ground speed allowing him to open his right instep and shoot with the path of the pass, wrong-footing Yann Sommer and easing the ball into the far corner. The celebration, and indeed the game itself to that point, felt coronational. Doué took off his shirt, saw it placed on the corner flag and stood in clean-cut gladiatorial pose in front of the Paris supporters, before slightly sheepishly – this is also very Doué-like – going to retrieve his shirt and accept his yellow card. By then the game was gone, as was Doué shortly after, replaced by Bradley Barcola. And really it was his opening 20 minutes that decided this Champions League final. Doué is a very distinct kind of attacking tyro, with a martial artist's precision in his close-quarter fast-twitch movements, always just enough of a feint and a snap of the heels, always purposeful, never gratuitous. Watching him on nights such as this, it is as though somebody has taken Neymar and boiled him for eight hours until all the waffle and frippery have disappeared, then sent him on to the pitch crisp and starched and purified. This is a Neymar without the madness, the weight, the excess appetite, a post-therapy Neymar. Read More Carnival atmosphere in Paris after Champions League success Plus, of course, Doué has that thing all the best players have, the compound eye vision, the ability to freeze, rewind, judge the space and angles around him in the tiniest flicker of everyone else's analogue time. How do you get like this, aged 19, on this stage, a goal and an assist in the opening 20 minutes of the Champions League final, for a team that have never won it, and who you joined only last summer? Doué has been a late-breaking story this season after his move from Rennes. He didn't score his first goal at the Parc des Princes until March. He hadn't scored or assisted in eight games coming into this final. But he is without question the high-ceilinged real deal. Lamine Yamal may be more obviously, cinematically effective. But Doué is at the same level, just more compact and less lavish, the further maths version to Yamal's bold strokes of fine art. By the end here, as another 19-year-old, Senny Mayulu, made it 5-0 against a frazzled Inter, this had become the perfect night for PSG and for the Paris Project, overseen by the unclosing hand of Qatar Sports Investments. First we take the world. Then we take Europe, via Paris, Doha and now Munich. For the state of Qatar and its interests this is football pretty much completed. In the space of three years the world's most relentlessly efficient gas state's outreach arm has won a home World Cup, led by its star player, the emir's tailor's dummy Lionel Messi, and now the greatest club prize. Paris Saint-Germain's French midfielder Desire Doue (C) celebrates with PSG's Portuguese midfielder Joao Neves (2R) and Brazilian defender Marquinhos (R). Pic: INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images PSG are currently the best team in the world, treble winners and champions of Europe, the scalps of three recent finalists dangling from their belts on that run. And really this was just too easy most of the time, a flaneuring kind of victory against opponents who were always either chasing, panting for breath or windmilling away just out of reach. Munich had spent Saturday baking in the sun, a city already on its summer holidays, green fringes thronged with picnickers, sunbathers and knots of Italian men sweating across the white heat of the Englische Garten in blue and black nylon shirts. The Allianz Arena is an epic, widescreen kind of stage, those steeply tiered stands curving towards a perfectly puckered oval of powder blue above the lip of the roof. Ten minutes before kick-off it was still hot and heavy, the kind of evening that makes you sweat just sitting still. Linkin Park, who must have a very good agent, put on an agreeably energetic pre-match rap-metal stomp-about. A celebrity violinist performed a hideous screeching Seven Nation Army fiddle-along. The giant Parisian tifo was scrolled away. And from the start this was just pain for Inter, a time to run and harry and chase younger and fresher opponents as the Mendes-Vitinha midfield pivot, PSG's velcro-touch directors of traffic, just took the ball away. Physical and mental intensity were always going to be key. PSG have been able to replenish the stocks, let the bruises heal, rest their best players. Inter have been all-in, flailing through a series of crunch end-of-season dates, limbs sloshing with lactic acid all the way to the line. It showed. For 12 minutes this was a kind of smothering. After that it became an extended execution, led by Doué. The first goal came from a lovely piece of applied geometry, all clean crisp lines, made first by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia easing inside two defenders. From there the blue shirts completed a high-speed passing triangle, the key ball from Vitinha pinged hard into the feet of Doué, who had found space by not moving, holding his position while Inter's defenders went to cover. He clipped the ball back for Achraf Hakimi to side-foot into an empty net. Read More Luis Enrique 'emotional' at tribute to his daughter after Champions League win The second goal eight minutes later was a break the full length of the pitch, PSG funnelling out from their own corner flag, finding Ousmane Dembélé in space, there to gallop away, all easy grace, head up, before curling a crossfield pass into the run of Doué. He controlled with his torso, then hit down on the ball at the top of its bounce, a deflection taking it past Sommer. Either side PSG were immaculate. This was box-fresh elite club football, possession, counterpress, swift transitions. At times it's like watching a team of head prefects, a supremely drilled exhibition the Iberian-Catalan Style, with just the right bolt-on parts in every role. This is of course the work of Luis Enrique, who has won 11 out of 11 finals, and who was up from the start at the edge of his rectangle, all in black with white trainers, lithe and animated, revolving both arms, shuttle running left to right, like a mime artist taking part in a gruelling military fitness drill. It has been said Luis Enrique turned to Paris two years ago after being appalled by the despotic owners of Chelsea and Spurs, which is certainly an interesting take on the extraordinary freedoms inherent in the Qatari propaganda project. But he has been the perfect man at the perfect time, the ideologue, the data-based strongman, here just as the years of celebrity overdose are finally cashed in, brand leveraged, income vast enough to leave PSG with a free hand to build a brilliant, hungry, youthful modern team. The idea has been to create a group of anti-stars. Good luck with that. Doué will now take his place, up there floating in his tin can high above the world, the latest addition to the global A-list. From Paris via Doha, with Catalan style, Asturian brains, past the scars of all those glitzy late stage slumps, PSG now stand at the summit. Guardian
