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5th August 2024
11:32am BST
A former Barcelona striker is considering buying the club he he used to play for, Espanyol, as revenge for stopping him playing at Euro 2024.
Danish striker Martin Braithwaite believes he was not selected for his national side because he was playing in the second division of Spanish football with Espanyol and he blames the club for not letting him leave.
Braithwaite, who spent two seasons at Barcelona before moving to their local rivals, wanted to leave the club after their relegation from La Liga in 2023, citing an unacceptable contract renewal and the desire to play top division football in order to get a call up for Euro 2024.
This was based on then-Danish coach Kasper Hjulmand telling the striker that his chances of playing for the Danish national team would decrease if he continued to play in the second division in Spain.
Braithwaite blames the hierarchy of Espanyol and in a crazy twist of fate, has decided he wants to buy the club so he can remove the owners and directors from their positions by becoming majority shareholder in revenge for not letting him leave.
Surprisingly he has the money to do it too after already buying himself out of his contract at Espanyol.
Martin Braithwaite is one of the world's richest footballers thanks to ventures outside of football.
The 33-year-old is said to have a net worth of £216 million, more than enough to buy a majority share in the club he helped win promotion back to La Liga last season by scoring 22 league goals.
Seven years ago the Danish forward partnered up with his uncle and reportedly invested just over half a million pounds into a real estate business in America with the company growing to £7.2m in just its first year.
Over the years that have followed the budding business duo have a portfolio of 1500 apartments and the company is said to be worth around £180m.
Braithwaite told The Philadelphia Inquirer, "I always had this American side, and I think maybe that's why my mindset is maybe more American: dreaming big, doing amazing things, writing goals down."
Clearly one of his goals now is to get payback and the owners of Espanyol better be wary, because he's serious about it too.
The Danish striker has had a mixed career playing for a variety of clubs including Toulouse, Bordeaux, Middlesborough and Barcelona where he won La Liga and the Copa del Rey.
Braithwaite has now left Espanyol after buying himself out of his contract, and has now moved to new shores, arriving in Brazil to play for top division side Gremio where it sure the entrepreneur will be looking to score goals on the pitch and seal business ventures off it.
