By AFPMore by this AuthorMADRIDManchester United striker Alexis Sanchez has struck a deal with Spanish authorities to accept a 16-month suspended jail sentence for tax fraud in return for avoiding a trial. He was sentenced to two eight-month suspended jail sentences to run consecutively, although prosecutors have called for the sentence to be lifted after two years if he does not re-offend. In 2016, Barcelona midfielder Lionel Messi was sentenced to a 21-month jail sentence that was eventually reduced to a fine of 2.1 million euros. Last month, Real Madrid's Croatian midfielder Luka Modric paid Spanish fiscal authorities close to one million euros to settle his own image rights tax case. The former Barcelona and Liverpool player Javier Mascherano has accepted a one-year suspended jail sentence over a 1.5-million-euro tax fraud.

Source: Daily Nation February 07, 2018 13:07 UTC