Lionel Messi & Cesc Fabregas Enjoy Double Date With Antonella Roccuzzo & Daniella Semaan
Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas were spotted in a double date with their respective girlfriends Antonella Roccuzzo and Daniella Semaan in London on Sunday.
They visited the Mayfair exclusive hotspot Colony Club Casino Bar, which "has a casino room for American Roulette, Blackjack, Three Card Poker, and Baccarat," Daily Mail reported.
According to the news outlet, the two couples have been friends following Chelsea star Fabregas' return to Barcelona from Arsenal back in 2011. Best buds Messi and Fabregas continued their quality time on Monday at west London department store Harrods and at a pizzeria, The Independent noted. They were joined by another former Barcelona star Deco.
However, Messi and Fabregas reuniting in a team seems like a far-fetched idea now. The football club's international sporting director Ariedo Braida said that Barcelona will "do everything they can to keep Messi at the Nou Camp but accept they may not be able to match a potential offer from a bigger-spending club," Daily Mail wrote, citing Braida's interview with Esport 3. Messi has a £205 million release clause in his contract which will expire in June 2019.
"I believe it's very difficult that Messi will leave Barca but at times in football strange things happen," Braida said, as quoted by Daily Mail. "Now with these clubs that have so much money like (Manchester) City, certain amounts don't seem to have a value. In football things happen that appear impossible but I hope he will remain."
The Argentine football star also stated that he is happy with his current club and confirmed he wouldn't leave Barca this summer, contrary to the rumors circulating around, the news outlet noted.
Lionel Messi Facing DEA Investigation
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA is investigating Messi's charity events -- named Messi and Friends -- for a suspected connection with a Mexican drug cartel, a translated report from Spanish newspaper El Mundo stated.
Fox News Latino reported that the charity, which organizes charity soccer games across Latin America and the U.S., is allegedly "laundering money to the Valencia drug cartel, an offshoot of the brutal Sinaloa criminal enterprise." According to the report, the money the charities raised may have "never reached the non-profits it pledged to help and instead went to the drug cartel."
Aside from Messi, investigators are also looking into Messi's Barcelona teammates Jose Manuel Pinto, Dani Alves, and Javier Mascherano's alleged involvement because "they may have been secretly profiting from the charity matches and failed to pay taxes on their income," the news outlet explained.
Both the DEA and Messi's camp didn't comment on the allegations, Fox News Latino noted.