The president of the Community of Madrid, the popular Isabel Díaz Ayuso, called for help from FC Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué in the most critical moments of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Cadena SER, Ayuso turned to the Catalan headquarters to participate, among other operations, in the purchase of 14 million masks through his company, Kosmos. The masks were distributed free of charge in pharmacies in the Community of Madrid and cost about 32 million euros.
The leader of the Popular Party allegedly asked Piqué to unblock this purchase, given Piqué’s contacts in the Asian market thanks to his business side. Sources close to the footballer’s environment consulted by the station say that he did not demand any financial compensation to help in these arrangements, and that he put both sides in contact and collaborated in the organization of the sending the masks to Spain disinterestedly. At that time, the purchase of medical equipment was a fierce international competition.
The relationship between the city of Madrid and Piqué is largely explained by the fact that Kosmos is organizing the Davis Tennis Cup in the Spanish capital thanks to an agreement signed between the regional government and Madrid City Council since the footballer left. to take charge of the organization of this sport competition by countries. Piqué, on the other hand, has traveled to China on other occasions to do business there, and his company has staff who know and maintain a good relationship with the Asian market. One of the Catalan footballer’s business partners is Edmund Chu, born in Shanghai, the city from where the planes left with the medical equipment to Madrid, according to the SER.
Piqué, in fact, had previously participated in another agreement with an Asian giant, in this case, with the company Rakuten, Barça’s main sponsor. On that occasion, the Barça center-back facilitated the first “rapprochement” between the club’s president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and the chief executive of this Japanese company, Hiroshi Mikitani, by organizing a dinner in 2015. Piqué’s good relationship and of his partner, the Colombian singer Shakira, with Mikitani facilitated the beginnings of the negotiation between the azulgrana club and Rakuten.
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