Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has joked that he would "walk to Saudi Arabia on foot" for £450m-a-year, which has been offered to golfer Jon Rahm.
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Ram leaving the PGA Tour for LIV GolfSet to earn £450 million ($566m)Ancelotti would have followed gladly for a similar amountWHAT HAPPENED?
The Basque golfer will be reportedly earning £450 million ($566m) in the next four years after he pledged his allegiance to the LIV organisation moving away from the PGA Tour and TGL League that has been created by Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. Ancelotti was asked by a reporter if he would have accepted a similar offer and the Italian could not stop himself from giving a hilarious reply.
AdvertisementGetty/GOALWHAT ANCELOTTI SAID
While responding to the question, Ancelotti said: "On foot. On foot. I’m walking, I don’t need to take a flight."
But he soon added: "It’s a joke. The world is changing. And it will change. It’s no surprise to anyone. Jon Rahm is very good. I’m not a golf expert, but Jon Rahm seems to me to be the best of all.”
On being asked if he has been contacted from anyone in Saudi Arabia he said: "No, they have not called me and I live in the present. The present is very good.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Ancelotti's contract is set to expire in the summer of 2024 and he has been intensely linked to take up the reins of the Brazilian national team.
When asked if he would consider shifting his base to the Middle East if an opportunity came by, he replied: "I have another idea that is not that right now. I have never looked at money, because I grew up in a family in which money was not important. And the truth is that I have money. For me the important thing is to feel good, it could be that one day I will feel good in Saudi Arabia, but for now, I feel good here.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Ancelotti indeed has money and the Italian is not afraid to splash it! Former AC Milan player Alexandre Pato revealed that the manager used to fly to training in a helicopter which was flown by his wife.
In an interview with Pato revealed: "Ancelotti became like a father to me. He even named his dog Pato. You saw that picture of him on the bus parade in Madrid, with the sunglasses and the cigar? Well, at Milan he’d turn up to training in a helicopter. He lived in Parma and his wife knew how to fly one. He’d step out like James Bond. If anyone lived with style, it was Carlo."