“Spend a mil no sweat, water my lawn with Moet,” Dr. Dre famously rapped in his late ’90s rap single “Been There, Done That.” When talking big money, and I mean huge money, citing hip-hop lyrics is always in order.
Today saw Forbes release their list of the ten highest paid footballers in the world, and as you would expect, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were one and two. Manchester United were one of three clubs to land two players in the top ten (Paris Saint-Germain and FC Barcelona were the other two). Midfielder Paul Pogba placed sixth and Goalkeeper David de Gea tenth.
- Lionel Messi, FC Barcelona, $126m
2. Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus, $117m
3. Neymar, Paris Saint-Germain, $96m
4. Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain, $42m
5. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool FC, $37m
6. Paul Pogba, Manchester United, $34m
7. Antoine Griezmann, FC Barcelona, $33m
8. Gareth Bale, Real Madrid, $29m
9. Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich, $28m
10. David de Gea Manchester United $27m
As you can see from above, neither is the highest paid individual player in the Premier League, however.
That honor belongs to Liverpool’s Mo Salah. The list is tabulated by annual wages plus earnings from endorsements, for the upcoming 20/21 season.
Earnings, which are pretax, include performance bonuses, but not transfer fees. All currencies are then converted into American dollars for the computation and ranking. Pogba makes $28m salary, $6m endorsements. For De Gea, it’s $24m and $3m.
The Frenchman is the most expensive player in England history, in terms of transfer fee, and the highest paid non-forward in the world.
De Gea is the only goalkeeper to make the Forbes list.
United have yet again been linked with Gareth Bale, and if this transfer actually does finally happen, after years of speculation and conjecture, then MUFC would be the only club with three of best paid in the top ten.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.