...because the greedy b*stard finally seems to have gone one step too far in his never ending quest for money.

There's a huge scandal being uncovered in Portugal right now regarding the Prime-Minister, George Clooney look-a-like José Socrates, using the profits of the public telephone company Portuguese Telecom to try and buy the nationally broadcast, Spanish-owned TV channel TVi. TVi's popular news programme, "Jornal ás 8" was the biggest critic of Socrate's regime, so the prime-minister tried to arrange for the publicly owned telephone company PT to buy out the channel so he could silence his fiercest critics. The take-over failed, but the director of the TV channel was ousted by the Spanish owners under pressure from the Portuguese PM.

The whole thing has been exposed because of phone-taps made on a guy who was one of the directors of PT, along with his associates. To say they've been caught red-handed is an understatement, but the current scandal is revolving around the annual payment of €250,000 (apparently for 3 years) to the Luís Figo "Football Star Fund" in exchange for him having breakfast with Portuguese PM in the run-up to the last election. Figo was apparently the second-choice to Mourinho after the latter refused the offer from the PT director to support Socrates' election campaign. No surprise really, given Mourinho's right-leaning political stance (Socrates is the leader of the Socialist Part in Portugal).

Figo is currently deflecting all questions with a pathetic "I'm innocent guvner!" standpoint. However, this is made to look more ridiculous upon the discovery that the player had been paid a huge sum to promote a business park outside Lisbon by the same Portuguese Telecom director, who was also a director of the business park.

As much as I respect his playing abilities, the guy has no shame when it comes to money. Allegedly accepting €750,000 of public money to have breakfast with a prime-minister who is appearing to be undoubtedly corrupt (numerous stories regarding his debatable qualification and his time as a minister have been doing the rounds previous to this), he's basically a shameless whore.

_{"Figo was apparently the second-choice to Mourinho after the latter refused the offer from the PT director to support Socrates' election campaign. No surprise really, given Mourinho's right-leaning political stance"}


Or maybe he has some principles shock. Doubt Figo's political leanings had much bearing.

Figo had a good image and was very popular in Portugal though wasn't he? Has that er, all changed now?

Portugal seems to be like Italy in its laxity with the phone-tapping. Is there much disquiet or even uproar about it (the phone-tapping and the leaking?)

Rumours about Figo's private life are rife in Lisbon and his love of money is well known. Compare and contrast the end of his career to Rui Costa's. The latter basically played two seasons on minimum wage as a thank-you to Benfica. Figo was given a similar but better opportunity to finish his career off at Sporting, but he chose to sit on the bench at Inter and court rich sheiks in the middle east instead.

Much like the current UK Labour Party, there is little if any left-leaning sympathy left in the Portuguese Socialist Party, so Figo's politcal principles aren't enhanced by his highly paid support.

I'm trying to think of an equivalent UK scenario and the best I can come up with is David Beckham being paid £3m by the BBC to go for breakfast with Gordon Brown in the run-up to the next election. I make the imaginary sum to be £3m just because Portugal is a far poorer country than the UK and €750,000 is an awful lot of money in this part of Europe.

Bold Figo.

between the ages of 29 and 34 rui costa was one of the highest paid players in the world on £80,000 a week, at AC Milan for five years. indeed what he was earning in 2001 would make him the third highest earning player at old trafford today. Indeed on basic wages he was earning at least as much as figo. Apart from recoba, he was the most overpaid player in world football.

he was slow at the beginning, but by the end of it he was barely able to move, and was too old and slow for even the AC Milan team. I mean fair dues to him for coming home to his own league but he could probably have bought benfica if he so chose. (great player in his day though. i remember him looking like football jesus against ireland back in 1995)

Figo was given a similar but better opportunity to finish his career off at Sporting, but he chose to sit on the bench at Inter and court rich sheiks in the middle east instead.

I don't think he can be criticised for this. Most players given those two choices at that stage of his career would have followed the same route.

The Mighty Kubelgog!!! wrote:
Apart from recoba, he was the most overpaid player in world football.


Comparing Rui Costa to Recoba really is misguided, one was a proven world class player, the other was a hopeful young talent from S.America. Rui Costa was approaching 30 when he moved to Milan, if they weren't prepared to pay £80,000 a week then there would've been a huge line of clubs willing to do so. How much did Man Utd pay bloody Larsson a week?

I was highly critical about the way Rui Costa conducted himself during his return to Benfica, he just cared *too* much and there was a huge inferiority complex between him and the other players because he was basically head and shoulders better than every one of them.

Fitness was always a problem, speed on the other hand was never a problem, he never had it, his game was always about incredibly technical ability, intelligence and vision - name me a striker who didn't flourish alongside him.

He also wasn't really "sitting on the bench". He was pretty much an ever-present for his first two seasons, and only fell out of the team in his third year when he got hurt. Even in his last season, he still appeared in more than half of Inter's Serie A matches.

He is, however, very dedicated to maximizing his income-generating potential, as the marketing types would say.

The offer to return to Sporting was seriously touted in the summer before his final season at Inter. It seemed to be on the cards but then the opportunity arose for him to play in the Middle East. This was almost certain to go ahead but he got cold feet at the last moment. Rather than make the hoped for move to Sporting, he decided to take a 1 year contract extension at Inter, where by and large he did nothing but sit on the bench.

No, he made 22 appearances in the league last season (five more than the year before, when he was hurt for an extended period).

22 appearances in the starting eleven?

I don't have the breakdown, but I do recall him starting quite a few games we attended.

I can only go by what I remember from A Bola in that season, which would report on every performance made by Figo, just as it would do for any Portuguese international playing abroad. I'm sure that well over 50% of those 22 games must be as a substitute.

Figo had no obligation to return to Sporting, but in a career where the smell of money has always been more important than club loyalty, it might not have been the worst decision in the world. At a time when getting people to attend football games in Portugal is like getting blood from a stone, his presence could've done wonders for the domestic game.

dalliance wrote:
Figo was given a similar but better opportunity to finish his career off at Sporting, but he chose to sit on the bench at Inter and court rich sheiks in the middle east instead.

I don't think he can be criticised for this. Most players given those two choices at that stage of his career would have followed the same route.

Beat me to it, it's hardly a valid criticism of any individual modern pro footballer.

Harry Truscott wrote:
dalliance wrote:
Figo was given a similar but better opportunity to finish his career off at Sporting, but he chose to sit on the bench at Inter and court rich sheiks in the middle east instead.

I don't think he can be criticised for this. Most players given those two choices at that stage of his career would have followed the same route.

Beat me to it, it's hardly a valid criticism of any individual modern pro footballer.

Portugal, like most poorer nations, rarely holds on to its footballing talent. There's no rule they should return but Figo exploits his fame in Portugal more than any other player I can think of. Allow me to be critical of his refusal to play just one final farewell season here in favour of another pay-cheque (and as current evidence demonstrates, by no means his final one).

What's interesting to me about this is that there was literally no discussion at all of him going back to Sporting in Italy at the time.

The options that were discussed in situ were retiring, going off to the Gulf (again), or extending his contract. The whole story obviously played out much differently in Lisbon.

erm, ursus "but I do recall him starting quite a few games we attended." leads me to ask, how many are there in the collective? How many teams do you ALL go and watch?

OK, that aside... I remember a bar/complex which Figo opened and subsidised in a place called... bugger. Dont know. I was there, and he is all over the walls. Touristy, south bit of Portugal... right on a port with SERIOUSLY big yachts and shops aiming for money.

The bar was packed solid in late January, and the rest of the area was dead. (2004 I think... year of Portugal hosting Euros?)

The beer was the cheapest in the whole of the Algarve (thank you WikiMemory) by miles.

It seems that he was subsidising the prices, which is why I mentioned it.

As you were.

Vilamoura!

Hmm, that could suggest that Sporting were floating the idea for publicity purposes, but that maybe they had no intention of actually doing a deal - as steveeeeeeeeee's description of Rui Costa's Benfica return indicates it's not necessarily a godsend to have a legend returning.

Just me and ursus minor, Gero. In four years, I only went by myself twice (and it felt strange both times).

Comparing Rui Costa to Recoba really is misguided, one was a proven world class player, the other was a hopeful young talent from S.America. Rui Costa was approaching 30 when he moved to Milan, if they weren't prepared to pay £80,000 a week then there would've been a huge line of clubs willing to do so. How much did Man Utd pay bloody Larsson a week?

Seriously Steveee, exactly how many clubs were prepared to pay £28 million quid, plus £20 million in wages, plus extras for a 29 year old? I'd say milan were in a queue of one for that one.

I would be surprised if larsson was on over £40,000 a week. and even then he was only on a three month deal.