In modern day football, it can’t be denied that money talks. While fans might not like it and some players might deny it too, one of the motivating factors for today’s players is money, and the world’s biggest clubs – particularly in Europe – are more than willing to pay crazy amounts of it out for the world’s best.
So who exactly are Europe’s highest paid players? And which clubs pay the biggest wages out? Some might surprise you, many won’t, but here are the best paid players in Europe’s top leagues.
English Premier League: Paul Pogba of Manchester United – approximately £290,000 a week
When United broke the bank last summer to bring their former youth star Pogba back from Juventus, they didn’t only break the world record transfer fee by paying £89.3m for him – they also made him into England’s best paid player by offering him 290k a week.
Has he been worth the money thus far? It could be argued that he isn’t, but at just 24 years old and on a five-year contract at United, he’s got plenty of time to settle in and prove his worth. After all, he’s only been back in England for eight months.
Interestingly enough, despite the two top positions in the Premier League currently occupied by London clubs – Chelsea and Tottenham – and Liverpool in third, it seems like if a player wants money, Manchester is the place to go.
Of the top ten paid players in the Premier League, eight of them play for one of the Manchester clubs – Wayne Rooney of United is second with £260k a week, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero of Manchester City are on £240k a week and Zlatan Ibrahimovic – United’s other marquee signing last summer – makes £220k a week. The only outliers right now are Eden Hazard of Chelsea and Mesut Ozil of Arsenal, but neither comes close to Pogba’s wage.
Spanish La Liga: Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid – approximately £365,000 a week (after tax)
It comes as no surprise that the man widely recognised as the world’s best player right now is also Europe’s highest paid. Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid makes approximately £365k a week, which also makes him the world’s third-highest player behind Carlos Tevez and Oscar, who are making exorbitant amounts in China right now.
Is he worth all that money? Based on his insane amount of goals – including ones at important times, like his brace against Bayern Munich last night – you’d have to argue in the affirmative.
Despite many reports of a potential move elsewhere, Ronaldo remains contracted to Real and signed a new deal just last summer to keep him there until 2021. Ronaldo’s rival Lionel Messi makes £336k a week at Barcelona.
Unsurprisingly all of the top ten highest paid players in Spain are from Real or Barcelona, with Real’s Gareth Bale actually making more than Messi - £350k a week – although that figure is before tax. Others in the top ten include Neymar, Luis Suarez and Sergio Ramos.
Italian Serie A: Gonzalo Higuain of Juventus – approximately £148,000 a week
Recognised by most fans as the best league in the world in the mid to late 1990’s, Italy used to pay wages in line with that reputation. Now though, as Serie A is seen as behind La Liga, the Bundesliga and the Premier League – and some would say France’s Ligue 1 too – the wage numbers have dropped somewhat in line with this.
Currently, the highest paid player in Italy is Gonzalo Higuain of Juventus. The Argentine striker was signed from Napoli in the summer of 2016 for a monstrous £75m, making him the most expensive South American player of all time, and his wages match his fee – approximately £148k a week. Since the move, Higuain has hit 27 goals in 42 appearances for Juve, which would suggest all that money was probably worth it.
Back in the 1990’s the Italian clubs with the biggest reputation for mega-money wage packets were undoubtedly the two Milan clubs, AC Milan and Internazionale, but today it’s Juventus and AS Roma who dominates in terms of paying players. Outside of AC Milan’s Ricardo Montolivo – who only stands as 9th – Juve and Roma players make up the entirety of Italy’s top ten highest paid.
German Bundesliga: Marco Reus of Borussia Dortmund – approximately £120,000 a week
Two big surprises here. Firstly, despite being recognised as one of the best three leagues in the world right now, Germany’s Bundesliga does not really pay wages in line with that – Reus, their highest paid player with approximately £120k a week, makes less than half of what Paul Pogba does and less than a third of Cristiano Ronaldo’s monstrous wage.
Secondly, you’d expect Germany’s highest paid player to come from their biggest club, Bayern Munich, who have tended to dominate the Bundesliga over the past few years. Instead, Reus is at Borussia Dortmund, and despite the rest of Germany’s top players largely gravitating to Munich, he’s stayed there since his move from Borussia Monchengladbach in January 2012 – most recently signing a contract extension in 2015 to keep him there until 2019.
Naturally, Bayern players make up the majority of the rest of Germany’s top ten highest paid, but even their best – Robert Lewandowski, Franck Ribery, Philipp Lahm and Arjen Robben and Manuel Neuer – only make approximately £120k a week. With clubs from England, Spain and even Italy and France paying much higher wages, it’s a surprise that German clubs manage to hold onto their top players as well as they do.
French Ligue 1: Thiago Silva of Paris St. Germain – approximately 190,000 a week
It comes as absolutely no surprise that in France, Paris St. Germain dominate Ligue 1 when it comes to both paying transfer fees and paying out crazy wage packets to players. After their purchase by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, the club has become one of the richest in the world and their wages show it – their squad earns an average wage of £101k a week, making them the best paying in European football.
While their highest paid player – Brazilian defender Thiago Silva – doesn’t make as much as the highest paid players in England and Spain, £190k a week still makes him the world’s best-paid defender. And before his move to Manchester United in 2016, France’s highest paid player by far was Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was making approximately £280k a week – a little more than he is now making at United, although not by much.
The Qatari investment didn’t take long to pay off. Paris St. Germain have won the title in Ligue Une in the last four seasons. The greatest goal, however – the Champions League – has remained out of reach. Perhaps PSG will begin to splash even more cash in the future to lure in more of the world’s best players in order to finally achieve it.
Turkey’s Super Lig: Robin van Persie of Fenerbahce – approximately £240,000 a week
Outside of Europe’s “big five” leagues, it comes as a surprise that the highest paid player actually earns more than the best paid in Germany, Italy and France. Robin van Persie, formerly of Arsenal and Manchester United, earns approximately £240k a week at Fenerbahce.
The Dutch striker made the move to Turkey in July 2015, and what makes his massive wage packet almost more shocking is the fact that Fenerbahce claimed to have only paid Manchester United just over £3m for his signature.
Seen largely as past his prime these days at the age of 33, Van Persie scored 22 goals in 48 appearances in his first season at Fenerbahce, but the investment didn’t quite pay off as it was Besiktas who ended up winning the league. The side currently sit third in the league too which suggests their investment in Van Persie perhaps wasn’t worth the money.
Money talks in football, so don’t be surprised to see these figures continue to rise over the next few seasons!
Until next time....
