Bolt’s Mexico Footballing Dream Demolished
Jamaican’s goal of joining top-tier club will not be Maradona’s side
Usain Bolt’s race to join a top-flight football team took yet another twist after Diego Maradona’s Mexican side missed out on promotion to Liga MX on Sunday.
Bolt, linked to Dorados de Sinaloa where legendary Argentina footballer has been technical director since September, was playing a waiting game for the second division outfit to be promoted.
Yet the 32-year-old Jamaican icon, who like Maradona is sponsored by Swiss watch giants Hublot, had set a self-imposed deadline of finding a football club to join by the end of November.
Dorados appeared to be his last shot, following trials that amounted to nothing in Australia, Germany, Norway and South Africa.
But Dorados fell at the final hurdle after they lost their second-leg promotion play-off final 4-2 to Atletico San Luis,to miss out on promotion 4-3 on aggregate.
Maradona had contacted Hublot last month about a potential lucrative sponsorship for Bolt, who demands a high salary, should Dorados ply their trade in the Liga MX next term. That dream is demolished.
Bolt, an eight-time Olympic sprint champion, has always been adamant that he will only play club football at the highest level. And claimed, after turning down a paltry one-season deal with Australian outfit Central Coast Mariners, that if he didn’t find a club by the end of November then he would quit his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
And he appears to have taken his eye off the ball after recently being in England to open his Track & Field restaurant in London, although he did play in a low-key seven-a-side friendly near Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium with his side winning on penalties.
Bolt then jetted off to Madrid, where he enjoyed a lively Spanish night out with legendary Brazilian footballer Ronaldo, before returning to his home island to get moving on his property development in and around Kingston.
With November’s deadline gone, Bolt’s management has been uncharacteristically quiet about potential football teams.
His only known offer that has any substance, and is an open-ended deal, appears to come from Maltese champions Valletta FC. The club became bankrolled by Abu Dhabi investors during the summer break, and Bolt would undoubtedly look pretty good against sides where most of their squad are part-timers.
Whether the mild Mediterranean weather will suit Bolt remains to be seen. But with no other viable options and a lucrative contract on offer, then if he really wants to give being a professional footballer a shot then surely the potential of playing Champions League football – and being a big fish in a small pond – could be his perfect fit.
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