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"My friend Pep told me what happens when he wants to sign a player that costs 100 million euros. He gathers several videos of the footballer and flies to see the sheikh. Once there, they have a hearty meal during which Pep shows him the videos.
The sheikh then transfers the money and the next day he himself raises the gas a little... and he has already recovered the money
".
The one who tells
this anecdote is the president of Bayern Munich
, Uli Hoeness, whom Guardiola left to train City in England.
A joke that reveals the essence of this Manchester team that has been eliminated in extremis by Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League semifinals.
Sheikh
Mansour bin Zayed
's recipe [51] has been to
build a team of stars at the stroke of petrodollar
thanks to his family fortune in which oil, politics and business have a more than diffuse distinction.
The sheik enjoys a fortune of more than 21,000 million dollars.
He is one of the richest men on the planet and at the same time holds various public positions in his country.
He is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Presidential Affairs of the United Arab Emirates
, an absolute monarchy accused of "committing serious human rights violations" by Amnesty International because of his "arbitrary arrests" or "suppression of freedom of expression" .
In addition, he is
a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi
: son of Sultan Al Nayan, half brother of Caliph Bin Zayed of the Emirates and is married to one of the daughters of Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emir and ruler of Dubai.
Family and economic relationships thanks to which he has been able to build
a squad valued at 984 million euros
, according to data from Transfermarkt.
In it, stars of the stature of Kevin de Bruyne or Phil Folden or Sterling stand out.
However, since his arrival in Manchester from the Bavarian club,
Guardiola has been the big star in Mansour's paycheck
.
A status that he achieves thanks to an astronomical salary that the English media estimate between 15 and 20 million pounds (between 17.6 and 23.47 million euros) a year.
This makes him the highest paid employee in the club.
He even better than the players.
Guardiola's five years on the bench has given
excellent results at the national level
: City has won (on at least one occasion) all English competitions and today is the leader of the Premier.
However,
in the Champions League he has always been on the verge of success
.
He a few days ago in the semis ousted by Ancelotti's men.
During the last edition it was in the final at the hands of Chelsea, a club that Abramovich had to resign due to sanctions due to the war in Ukraine.
Although it seems unlikely that he will share the fate of the Russian oligarch,
the sheikh has recently come under fire from the British government and parliament
following a meeting between Mansour and Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
Labor MP Chris Bryant questioned whether the sheikh was "a suitable and appropriate person to own a football club" and said "it would be good if he left."
Some political criticism and sports punctures at a European level that, however, do not seem to have broken the sheikh's confidence in the future of City.
However, the question is whether Pep wants to continue as coach.
His initial contract was for three years and he has extended it twice.
Some extensions that led the British press to wonder if the Catalan would want to continue leading the team at the end of this season.
However, the same media now assure that
the defeat at the Bernabéu would have instilled in Guardiola an iron determination to achieve a Champions League with City
.
A renovation that the sheikh wants.
However, Pep is not the only Spaniard with whom Mansour has a good friendship.
The sheikh is a person with deep sympathy for the king emeritus
, who has been caught on occasion in the grandstand of the City stadium.
In addition, he gave the monarch two Ferraris and in 2014 he went to look for him at the foot of the runway at the Abu Dhabi airport, a country that years later would become his residence.
Bin Zayed has an extensive business portfolio
, some of them in common with Spain.
He is vice president of Mubadala, which has a capital of 369,000 million dollars.
A sovereign fund with which Spain signed an Agreement for the Reciprocal Protection and Promotion of Investments last February during Sánchez's official visit to the Dubai expo.
In addition, the sheikh owns a farm in Valencia de la Torre (Badajoz).
A land once used as a hunting ground and for raising cattle for which the Emirati paid 50 million to
turn it into a halal meat farm
(suitable for Muslim consumption) destined for export.
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