What's the story?
FC Barcelona are undoubtedly one of the financial superpowers of the footballing world. They are capable of luring any player to the Camp Nou as a result of their monetary might and famed playing style. A recent survey has revealed that the Spanish giants have the highest average wage bill in the La Liga followed by Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
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Barcelona pay their players handsomely which is evident from the wages they offer their priceless trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr and Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan marauder earns £200,000 per week whereas Neymar earns £250,000 per week.
Messi, on the other hand, earns a handsome £256,000 after tax and that figure is set to increase manifold when he signs a new contract with the club. Club president Josep Bartomeu has often stated that the board wishes to make Messi the highest-paid player in Europe.
The heart of the matter
According to a survey conducted by Sporting Intelligence, FC Barcelona are the club with the highest wage bill with their players pocketing €7.1 million annually. Real Madrid come second with a €6.3 million wage bill for their richly assembled squad. This might be surprising for few considering Real Madrid are one of the richest clubs in the world and pride themselves on luring world-class players to ply their trade as a 'Galactico' at the Bernabeu.
Also read: 10 highest paid footballers in the world
Atletico Madrid come third in this league with a €3.2 million wage bill. The underperforming Valencia side, whose first team earn €2.2 million per year, come next on the list. The bottom three include two clubs who earned promotion this summer in Alaves and Leganese. These two sides have an annual wage bill of €377,269 and €343,686 respectively while Las Palmas sit second from bottom.
From the survey, it is clear that La Liga clubs spend a total of €771 million on salaries annually which work out to an average of €1.5 million per player. The Premier League clubs, meanwhile, spend on average, £2.3 million on each player every year, according to Global Sports Salary Survey(GSSS).
Sportskeeda's take
Considering the threat of Chinese clubs hijacking transfers by offering unimaginable wages, clubs around Europe will have to increase their wages to satisfy their stars. In a few years, the average annual bill of the richest clubs like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester United will cross the €10 million mark for sure.
