Europe’s highest-paid footballers listed with Cristiano Ronaldo number four
According to a new Marca survey, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are just second and fourth on Europe’s highest-paid footballer’s list, despite huge weekly wages of £652k and £515k, respectively.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s staggering earnings have been rated in a new list, albeit neither is Europe’s highest-paid footballer.
The PSG star, 34, and Manchester United icon, 37, currently earn £652k and £515k per week, respectively. But there is one star who outearns both Ballon d’Or winners in terms of annual earnings: Messi’s teammate Neymar, who is said to earn a remarkable £41.5 million per year (£798,000 per week).
Though he is never one to settle for second best, Messi’s salary might surpass Neymar’s if he stays until the end of the current season. The Argentine’s deal includes a £25.4 million ‘loyalty incentive,’ which would be activated if he elected to stay in Paris for a second season. The incentive would bring his total earnings for the year to £59.3 million.
PSG’s frontline is completed by Kylian Mbappe, who ranks eighth on the list of Europe’s highest-paid players. The wonderkid is a summer goal for Real Madrid, but the La Liga leaders will have to at least equal his £22.4m-a-year salary if they are to land their top target.
The Marca report names Gareth Bale as having the third-highest salary, in what appears to be yet another jab at the Real Madrid exile. Bale slammed the Madrid-based daily for its “parasitic” analysis ahead of Wales’s World Cup qualifier against Austria last Thursday, despite scoring twice in a 2-1 triumph.
Eden Hazard, a fellow Los Blanco’s benchwarmer, scrapes into the top five with mega-money earnings of £25.4m per year, the same as Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann. Karim Benzema, another Real Madrid player, rounds out the top ten with a salary of £20.3 million per year.
Following Ronaldo, the highest-earning Premier League players are Kevin De Bruyne (£21 million) and David De Gea (£19.8 million), who are ranked eighth and tenth, respectively.
