Have you been collecting Panini cards since, say, 2004? If yes, then root them out and look to see if you have – checks notes – a “Mega Cracks” Lionel Messi rookie card.
No, not a clue, but apparently that’s what they call the first trading card thingie to feature a future superstar. And it was in 2004 that Messi made his competitive debut for Barcelona, launching a career that has proved to be somewhat useful.
Just 20 of the Messi rookie cards were produced, so there was always a reasonable chance that they’d become much-desired collectables. How desirable? Well, one has just been sold by Fanatics Collect, “a dynamic marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of trading cards and memorabilia”, for … sitting comfortably? ... $1.5 million (€1.28 million). No kidding!
That tops the previous most expensive football card, a 1958 one featuring Pele that sold for $1.33 million in 2022. So, get thee to the attic and start rummaging.
RM Block
Amorim the dissenter
“No, no, no. Not even the Pope will change [me].” Ruben Amorim on whether he’d ever alter his preferred formation for a team often in need of divine intervention.
By the Numbers: 61
The latest world ranking for the Republic of Ireland’s men, putting them marginally ahead of Jordan and Burkina Faso, and behind the likes of Qatar, Uzbekistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hard times.
Word of Mouth
“Jamie Redknapp is a double-barrelled idiot. He talks a load of rubbish. He and Sky will be hearing from my lawyers Monday. I am coming after you Jamie Redknapp idiot.” Alan Sugar not taking altogether kindly to Jamie’s suggestion on Sky that Sugar had left Spurs in a financial mess after his time in charge.
“We should have signed Emi Martinez. In fact, we should have gone for Gianluigi Donnarumma when we had the chance. As for Lammens, I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of him.” How excited is Peter Schmeichel about his latest heir apparent, Senne Lammens?
“My father is 75 years old and for 50 years he’s been a fisherman, working from two in the morning till 10 o’clock in the morning. This is a hard life – not the way a player works.” Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca opting not to shed tears for his outcasts, Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi.
Cabbie cash
The happiest taxi drivers in all of England? No doubt, the ones working in or around the north London area. And they have Mikel Arteta to thank for earning more in a day than they do for most of their week.
As part of his somewhat quirky efforts to introduce team-bonding to his squad, the Arsenal gaffer insists that his players meet at the club’s training ground, London Colney, before home and away games, and from there they leave on a coach for wherever they’re playing.
They must return to the training ground after each game, Arteta not allowing them to head for home direct from the stadiums where they played. If it’s a home game, they have a 24-mile trip to the Emirates.
So, most of the players hire a taxi driver for the day to take them from their abode to the training ground and then collect them from there to bring them back home.
According to the Sun, it costs up to £1,000 (€1,150) to hire a taxi for a full day, so that’s about £20,000 that’s going into local cabbies’ pockets on each match day. Arsenal played 58 games last season, that’s a fare lotta moolah.
More Word of Mouth
“You’ve been watching shit football for six years. Wow! I’m really sorry.” Jurgen Klopp on meeting a young Manchester United supporter during a Red Bull event. The fan, you’d imagine, felt Klopp was being too kind.
“My career so far has been rich; I’ve coached the biggest clubs in the world. But I made a mistake going to Fenerbahce; it wasn’t my cultural level, it wasn’t my football level. Coaching Benfica is returning to my level, and my level is coaching the biggest clubs in the world.” Jose Mourinho bidding a tearful goodbye to Turkey.
“I think it was good, the lads enjoyed it, and it’s good for them as young men.” Rangers manager Russell Martin took his squad swimming in a Baltic Loch Lomond last week, with most of them still being defrosted.
