Rodrigo de Paul is an Argentine soccer player who also plays for the Spanish club Atletico Madrid. He began his professional career in 2012, at Racing Club, before moving to Valencia. De Paul broke onto the big stage at Serie A side Udinese and was signed by Atletico Madrid in 2021. He made his national team in 2021 and has already made 48 appearances for Argentina, scoring four goals.
#Qatar2022 #DatoAlbiceleste 🇦🇷
¡Operación cerrojo: @rodridepaul! 🔐
👉 El argentino fue el jugador que más recuperó la pelota durante el partido. pic.twitter.com/ubOImFKNOi
— Selección Argentina 🇦🇷 (@Argentina) December 3, 2022
De Paul is a part of the Argentine World Cup squad and a very close friend of Lionel Messi. He was married to Camila Homs, an influencer and model. He has two children with the Argentine but split up with her earlier this year. De Paul was also taken to court by Homs over child support payments.
Camila Homs demanded millions of dollars from Rodrigo de Paul
According to reports, Homs had demanded a total of nearly $500,000 per year from De Paul, including an apartment that was valued at $2.6 million. Whether De Paul will go ahead with these payments or not remains to be seen. After this news broke, De Paul’s World Cup hopes were thrown into doubt. Argentina FA’s president Claudio Tapia’s statements added fuel to the fire of the news of De Paul missing the World Cup.
View this post on Instagram
“To go to Qatar, what you don’t have to have is a criminal complaint with a pending sentence, a gender issue, or something similar, that’s what we understand from what the article of the FIFA Regulations marks,” Tapia said. But in later interviews, he said his statements were taken out of context and there was no real risk for De Paul to miss the World Cup.
Why did De Paul break up with his ex-wife Camila Homs?
There is some speculation as to why De Paul and Homs had split up after so many years of dating. They had met when De Paul was 17, and Homs was 15, in Argentina. Some speculate De Pual was unfaithful to Homs during the relationship. In an interview, Homs stated that she had a “project” in mind, and may have considered reconciliation. She said she has always been loyal, but De Paul was not the same.
A vos que te digo? TE AMO, gracias por sostenerme, por bancarme, por estar ahí !!! TE AMOOOOO 💙🤍💙🤍🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷 https://t.co/aiaAhGCsuV
— Rodrigo de Paul (@rodridepaul) December 3, 2022
De Paul said the split was amicable, and that their friendship is still very strong. Homs also said she did not want to sabotage De Paul’s dream of playing in the World Cup, and hoped the situation would resolve very quickly.
According to Tapia, the World Cup scare was not real. The case against De Paul was not a criminal one, and hence he would be allowed in Qatar and would be abiding by FIFA’s rulebook. The Argentine midfielder is now dating an Argentine singer, Tini Stoessel.