Sport shorts: Ronaldo tops Instagram rich list, ‘Gay footballer’ deletes Twitter account, Zion signs with Jordan Brand

1. Ronaldo in the Insta money

Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo has taken the No.1 spot on a newly-published Instagram sporting rich list.

Compiled by analytics website HopperHQ, the list looks at how much money sports stars can potentially earn from a single Instagram post.

The Sun reports that with his 172.8m followers 34-year-old Portugal captain Ronaldo can command an “astronomical” £784,000 per post.

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PSG and Brazil star Neymar, who is second on the list, could make £580,000 while Barcelona’s Lionel Messi could earn £521,000.

2. ‘Gay footballer’ deletes Twitter account

A Twitter user who claimed to be an anonymous Championship footballer intending to come out as gay has apparently reversed his decision at the last minute. The alleged sports star, who went by the username @FootballerGay, had promised to hold a press conference today where he would reveal his identity. But the Twitter account, which had more than 50,000 followers, was deleted last night, after the user tweeted: “I’m not strong enough to do this.”

3. Murray brothers head to Citi Open

Andy Murray and Jamie Murray will partner in the men’s doubles at next week’s Citi Open tennis event in Washington. Mark Ein, Citi Open manager, said: “They called us and said Andy really wanted to come back to DC and wanted to play doubles with his brother. We’re putting a real focus on doubles at the event - it’s a terrific piece of the competition and entertainment value for fans so we were thrilled he wanted to return.”

4. Zion signs shoe deal with Jordan Brand

NBA rookie Zion Williamson has signed a shoe deal with Nike’s Jordan Brand. Williamson was the No.1 pick at the NBA Draft and signed with the New Orleans Pelicans. Calling the deal a “big win for Nike”, Bloomberg describes the 6ft 7in 19-year-old as the “most heralded NBA rookie since LeBron James”.

5. Russian boxer Dadashev dies

The Russian Boxing Federation (RBF) has opened an investigation into the death of Maxim Dadashev. The 28-year-old died after sustaining injuries in the IBF light-welterweight bout against Subriel Matias on Friday. RBF secretary general Umar Kremlev said: “We will complete the investigation into the circumstances surrounding this fight, we need to know the truth about what happened. This happens in any sport. I think some human factors intervened, there was some kind of violation.”

6. Lowry targets Olympic gold

Open champion Shane Lowry has set his sights on winning golfing gold at next year’s Olympics Games in Tokyo. The Irishman said: “It will be incredible, won’t it? I missed the last one [in Rio], I got a lot of stick for that. I had my own reasons. But this has gone a long way to putting me on the plane for Japan.”

7. Tokyo 2020 medals unveiled

It’s one year today until the opening of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Organisers have unveiled the medals for Tokyo 2020 and the BBC reports they are created entirely from recycled consumer devices.

8. New deal for Hudson-Odoi

England winger Callum Hudson-Odoi is set to sign a new £100,000-a-week contract with Chelsea worth £50m. Hudson-Odoi had been linked with German giants Bayern Munich, but new Blues boss Frank Lampard has persuaded the 18-year-old to stay at Stamford Bridge for the long term.

Premier League transfer news: Tierney, Pogba, Milinkovic-Savic, Maguire, Rose

9. Big weekend for Mercedes

The two Mercedes cars will have a one-off livery at this weekend’s Formula 1 German Grand Prix - the team’s home race. Merc’s new look comes with the German brand being the title sponsor at Hockenheim, the team celebrating its 200th start in F1, and the 125th anniversary of motor sport.

F1: ‘too extreme’ to write off Sebastian Vettel

F1 German GP: practice, qualifying, predictions, TV, odds

10. ‘Gun to pot’

Arsenal head coach Unai Emery has written off any title challenge from his team - 16 days before the start of the new campaign. The Gunners finished fifth in the Premier League last season and Emery believes that the gap on Manchester City and Liverpool is too big to close. Spaniard Emery said: “We need to be realistic and the distance between Liverpool and Manchester City and us is [a lot of] points.”

Today’s back pages: Emery’s ‘Prem shocker’ for Arsenal