Leo Messi and Aitana: Children’s preferred future bosses

FC BARCELONA’S Leo Messi and singer Aitana are the celebrities children would most like to have as their boss when they grow up – replacing former Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo and Colombian-born pop-rocker Shakira – according to the latest survey by Adecco recruitment agency.

In the 15^th Qué quieres Ser de Mayor (‘What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up’) study, a total of 1,800 children in Spain aged between four and 16 were asked about everything from their views on the political and economic situation in the country and the state of the job market through to their hoped-for future careers and the famous people they would most like to work for.

Girls largely opted for a boss in the music industry – in 37.5% of cases – cartoon characters, in 15.6% of cases, someone from the world of film (12.5%), from sports (6.3%), or from television (5.9%).

Boys mainly opted for a boss in the sporting world (40.6%), the music industry (21.9%), from TV (15.6%) or a YouTuber (3.7%), although 9.4% of boys said they did not want to have a boss at all.

Leo Messi was the number one choice for 21.9% of boys, in place of last year’s favourite, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has now dropped off the list altogether following his departure from Real Madrid and move to Juventus in Torino, Italy.

Others who no longer feature are comedian and TV presenter Pablo Motos, and footballers Zinedine ‘Zizou’ Zidane and Andrés Iniesta.

After Messi, boys opted for TV presenter Arturo Valls (9.4%), Reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee (7.6%) and tennis ace Rafa Nadal (6.8%).

Farther down the list but also popular were footballer Diego Costa, a YouTuber known as Vegetta777, Colombian Reggaeton singer Maluma, midfielder ‘Isco’ Alarcón, and Alicante-based rapper Arkano.

In 12.1% of cases, girls said they would most like to work for singer Aitana Ocaña (in the picture above, right, from Pinterest), who shot to fame on both sides of the pond last year with her duet with Ana Guerra, Malo.

Last year, Aitana was in fourth place and Shakira, who is married to Barça’s Gerard Piqué and lives with him in Barcelona, was first, although she is now joint second along with singer Katy Perry, with 8.5% of the votes, ahead of cartoon character Ladybug (7.1%).

Also in the list are Spain’s newest pop sensation Rosalía, Rafa Nadal, cartoon favourite Sponge Bob, rapper Bad Bunny, and TV presenter Lara Álvarez.

Top 10 positions last year included Almería pop veteran David Bisbal, singer and The Voice coach Malú – now reputed to be in a relationship with Albert Rivera, national leader of the centre-right political party Ciudadanos – TV celebrity chef Samantha Vallejo-Nájera, Pablo Motos, and Cristiano Ronaldo, but these have either dropped farther down or disappeared altogether.