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Owing to its status as the most followed sport in the world, it should come as no surprise that the world of football is a multi-billion dollar industry, with television revenue, ticket sales, sponsorship and global sale of merchandise all contributing to make the beautiful game a lucrative sport.
This massive influx of cash has had a concordant effect on the salaries and transfer fees of players. Footballers currently earn sums which would have been considered unthinkable just two decades ago.
Numerous factors come into play when deciding a player's remuneration, with ability, marketability, experience and value all considered but despite their best efforts, some clubs are paying massive wages to players who are scarcely deserving of such amounts.
Here, we shall be having a rundown of the top 10 most overpaid players in the world currently.
10 most overpaid footballers in world football
#10 Paul Pogba (Manchester United) - £290,000/week
When Paul Pogba completed his record-breaking move to Manchester United in the summer of 2016, he arrived with a reputation of being the most promising midfielder in the world. It was expected that he would help the Red Devils in their quest to rise back to the top.
It has, however, not worked according to plan for both parties as a combination of fitness concerns as well as allegations of non-commitment have seen the France international struggle to win over his detractors.
The ongoing season has especially been hard on the 27-year-old, with an ankle injury sustained in the middle of September ruling him out for the next six months.
Although the lockdown period helped Pogba get back to full fitness, he has made just 15 appearances this season, which is rather disappointing considering his hefty wages.
#9 Tanguy Ndombele (Tottenham Hotspur) - £200,000/week
Following some fine performances in the heart of the Lyon midfield, the normally frugal Tottenham Hotspur broke their record to sign Tanguy Ndombele for the sum of £62.8 million while also making him the joint-highest paid player in the team.
The 23-year-old is basically stealing a living as he currently finds himself down the pecking order behind the likes of Giovanni Lo Celso, Dele Alli and Harry Winks, who all earn less than half of what he does.
Ndombele has not started any of Tottenham's last 15 Premier League matches while his return of two goals and four assists from 29 matches in all competitions is shambolic.
#8 Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea) - £120,000/week
Far from being the cornerstone of the youthful Chelsea squad that many expected, Callum Hudson-Odoi has seen his season hampered by several injuries, including hamstring concerns and an Achilles tendon rupture.
Since the season restarted, the England international has barely featured for the club as Frank Lampard slowly eases him back into the first team following his long layoff.
Four goals and six assists from 30 matches in all competitions are not numbers that are deserving of the wages Hudson-Odoi currently enjoy at Stamford Bridge.
#7 Adrien Rabiot (PSG) - €175,000/week
Adrien Rabiot was basically frozen out of the PSG first team for almost a year after falling out with the board over contract disputes.
He completed his sought-after move to Juventus in the summer of 2019 which saw him become the second highest-paid player in the Italian Serie A behind Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
His debut season in Italy has hardly been stellar as he has been involved in just 31 matches in all competitions, scoring a solitary goal, with just 17 starts managed in the league.
#6 Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona) - £240,000/week
It was a move that was supposed to catapult Philippe Coutinho into the upper echelons of the global game and cement his status as a bonafide legend of the game.
The Brazil international opined as much, going as far as to submit a transfer request to Liverpool while also providing some of the funds to complete his record-breaking move to the Camp Nou.
It was a dream come true for the former Inter man but this dream soon turned to a nightmare as just 18 months after his club-record arrival, Barcelona offloaded him to Bayern Munich on a loan deal.
Things have hardly improved for him in Germany and the Bavarians have confirmed that they would not make the move permanent, putting the 28-year-old at a crossroad regarding the next step in what should be the prime of his career.
In the just-concluded Bundesliga season, Coutinho started just 15 league matches, weighing with a paltry nine goals as Bayern Munich strolled their way to yet another league title.
The fact that he is on hefty wages of £240,000 weekly means that Barcelona are eager to offload him to free up space on their lofty wage bill and this is a far cry from what was expected upon his arrival.
#5 Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona) - £210,000/week
Another big-game signing that has gone horribly wrong for Barcelona in recent years, Ousmane Dembele was signed for a club-record fee in the summer of 2017 to ostensibly replace Neymar but things have since gone horribly wrong for the France international.
His ability is clear for all to see but he has been severely hampered by long-term injuries, missing a total of 86 matches in the last three years due to different fitness issues while his professionalism has also been called into question.
In essence, Dembele has spent the equivalent of almost two full seasons on the treatment table and Barcelona are paying a lot of money to a player who simply cannot stay fit.
#4 Luka Jovic (Real Madrid) - £170,000/week
After a stellar breakout season that saw him score 27 goals in all competitions to fire Eintracht Frankfurt to the semifinal of the Europa League, Real Madrid paid the sum of €60 million to secure the services of Luka Jovic.
Like many youngsters who have found themselves under the spotlight of the Bernabeu, the Serbia international has simply not been up to par, with manager Zinedine Zidane showing a distinct distrust in him. Karim Benzema's return to form also means that the 22-year-old understudy has barely had a run-in.
So far, Jovic has scored just two goals in 22 matches in all competitions while he has been named in the starting 11 just seven times across the campaign.
#3 Alexis Sanchez (Inter Milan on loan from Manchester United) - £400,000/week
One of the most protracted transfer sagas in recent history was witnessed in January 2018 when both Manchester City and Manchester United went head-on for the services of Alexis Sanchez.
The Red Devils were so desperate to get one over their city rivals that they were willing to make the Chile international the highest-paid player in Premier League history. However, despite initial optimism, the move soon went downhill and Sanchez departed Old Trafford for Inter Milan in the summer of 2019, having scored just five goals in 18 months.
His spell in Italy has hardly been better and an injury has hampered his performances. Despite some improved performances in recent weeks, Inter Milan have not gotten value for money spent and it is hard to imagine that Antonio Conte would push to make the move permanent.
#2 Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) - £350,000/week
Gareth Bale could easily have topped this list as other than flashes of brilliance here and there, the Welshman has not done too much in the last two years to justify his status as the highest-paid player in the Real Madrid squad.
The season began with the former Tottenham Hotspur man pointedly told he has no future at the Bernabeu and despite all attempts to move on in both the summer and winter transfer windows, nothing concrete materialised.
Since then, the animosity between him and Real Madrid fans has grown more intense and Bale has done little to quell insinuations that he doesn't care about the club. Many viral pictures on social media showing him seemingly sleeping in the stands while his teammates were on the field were portrayed as an indication of his flippant attitude towards the club.
#1 Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) - £350,000/week
For the best part of the last one year, Mesut Ozil has basically been stealing a living from the Arsenal coffers as a fallout with former manager Unai Emery saw him frozen out of the first team in the final few months of the Spaniard's tenure.
The appointment of Mikel Arteta saw the German get improved playing time but performances on the field were below par, with his attitude and work ethic called into question.
Since football resumed post-lockdown, Ozil has yet to kick a ball in anger and although the official explanation is that he is plagued with back troubles, past antecedents have sent conspiracy theorists into overdrive, suggesting he might not have a role in Arteta's vision for the club.
