Okocha expresses regret over Messi’s £1m weekly earnings

Popular Nigerian football legend, Jay-Jay Okocha has reacted to Argentine football star, Lionel Messi getting a £1 million weekly pay at his new club, Paris St-Germain.

In an interview with The Guardian, Okocha said his time as a footballer came too early while Messi came at the right time.

He added that if he was paid such an amount, he would have considered staying back at France and not coming back to Nigeria.

Okocha said;

“I came too early and Messi came at the right time. If I was paid such an amount of money in my playing days, maybe I would have stayed back in France forever. I wouldn’t have thought of coming to Nigeria.”

Messi has endorsed sportswear company Adidas since 2006. According to France Football, he was the world’s highest-paid footballer for five years out of six between 2009 and 2014, and was ranked the world’s highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2019.

Messi was among Time’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2011 and 2012. In February 2020, he was awarded the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, thus becoming the first footballer and the first team sport athlete to win the award. Later that year, Messi became the second footballer (and second team-sport athlete) to surpass $1 billion in career earnings.