France Football publishes the football player and manager Rich List
According to the latest France Football magazine rich list, Lionel Messi is the highest-paid footballer on the planet, earning almost £1million a week last year in wages and sponsorship deals. The Argentina and Barcelona striker took home an incredible £47.8m in 2014, with his club salary of £26m topped up by lucrative endorsements with the likes of adidas, FIFA 15 and Turkish Airlines. It puts him well ahead of his Real Madrid and Portugal rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who “only earned £39.7m. Let’s have a look at the top 10 starting from the “poorest” of them:
In tenth place, Bayern Munich striker, Robert Lewandowski earned £14.8 million after becoming the second high-profile player to swap Dortmund for Bayern in the space of a year following Mario Goetze. His five-year deal, excluding sponsorship, is said to be worth €11 million a year. In ninth we have Manchester City Argentinean striker with £15.6m. Aguero signed a new five-year contract worth £150,000-a-week with the Premier League champions back in August last year. In eigth is Paris St-Germain Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic with £15.8m. The former AC Milan, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter Milan, Ajax and Malmo striker, has enjoyed a magnificent time in Paris and expects to finish his career at PSG. In seventh, and only Englishman, is Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney on £16.5m. Rooney recently signed a new five-and-a-half-year contract at Man Utd, extending his current deal by four years worth up to £300,000-a-week. In sixth is Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale with £17.5m. Real Madrid broke the world transfer record to sign the Tottenham forward and the Wales star agreed a £300,000-a-week, six-year deal. In fifth place Dutch striker Robin van Persie with £18.8m even if the 31-year-old remains uncertain about his future at Old Trafford. In fourth is another PSG player, Brazilian defender, Thiago Silva on £20.2m after joining the French side on leaving AC Milan in 2012. In third place is another Brazilian, Barcelona’s Neymar is on £26.8m after joining the blaugrana from Santos. In second place is Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo who earned a whopping £39.7m. The Portuguese striker won the European Cup, Copa del Rey, Uefa Super Cup, Fifa Club World Cup and Ballon d’Or award in the past 12 months, even if he doesn’t win the rich list, that would be his Argentinean nemesis Lionel Messi who earned £47.8m. A top football prediction would suggest that the podium positions of this list won’t be changing anytime soon.
As far as the managers are concerned, Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho is the highest paid with his £10m salary and £3.2m in commercial revenue. Second and third respectively are Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti on £11.4m and Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola on £11.2m. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger on £8.3m is “only” fourth and Manchester United’s Louis van Gaal on £7.3m is fifth. The first non club manager is Russia manager Fabio Capello on £6.6m with Zenit manager Andre Villas-Boas on £6.2m. Former England and present Shanghai East Asia manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson earned £5.9m whereas Borussia Dortmund’s Jurgen Klopp earned £5.3m. In joint tenth place we find PSG’s Laurent Blanc and a very surprising David Moyes, Real Sociedad, who earned £5.1m. A sports betting expert would suggest one in-between, Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers and Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone (even if the latter has just signed an extension worth £4.4m) will soon break into the top ten.