Messi receives the highest salary in the world, almost double Ronaldo's
Lionel Messi is the highest-paid player on the planet as he earns £7.3m a month before tax - almost double what Cristiano Ronaldo earns at Juventus.
According to L'Équipe's annual study, the list of the 10 highest-paid football players in Europe has been selected. Of these 10, 5 are playing in Spain, 2 in France, 2 in England and only 1 in Italy.
Modern footballers' salaries are astronomical, but according to L'Equipe's list, Messi's is simply staggering. The Barca superstar signed a new contract in November 2017, which puts him at the top of the list with a salary of £7.3m (€8.3m). That's almost double the salary of his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who earns £4.1m (€4.7m) a month before tax.
In what is little surprise, third is Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann, who earns £2.9m (€3.3m) a month after renewing his contract ahead of the 2018 World Cup this summer.
Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar sadly ranked fourth with reported monthly earnings of £2.7m (€3.-6m) while Luis Suarez ranked fifth with a monthly salary of £2.5m (€2.9m).
The highest paid faces in football
Real Madrid's Gareth Bale (£2.2m), Philippe Coutinho (£2m), Alexis Sanchez (£1.97m), Kylian Mbappe (£1.5m) and Mesut Ozil (£1.4m) complete the top 10.
Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski failed to make the top 10 list with reported monthly earnings of £1.2m (€1.33m).
L'Équipe also released their list of Ligue 1's top earners, and unsurprisingly, the top five are all PSG players. Neymar and Mbappe are the top two, with Edinson Cavani (£1.3m), Thiago Silva (£1m) and Angel Di Maria (£1m) rounding out the rest.
The French newspaper also reported that Mbappe's monthly salary increased by £160,000 (€180,000) between his first and second seasons at the Paris club following his move from Monaco.
Top 10 highest paid players in the world 1. Lionel Messi - £7.3m (€8.3m) 2. Cristiano Ronaldo - £4.1m (€4.7m) 3. Antoine Griezmann - £2.9m (€3.3m) 4. Neymar - £2.7m (€3.06m) 5. Luis Suarez - £2.5m (€2.9m) 6. Gareth Bale - £2.2m (€2.5m) 7. Philippe Coutinho - £2m (€2.3m) 8. Alexis Sanchez - £1.97m (€2.28m) 9. Kylian Mbappe - £1.5m €1.73m) 10. Mesut Oezil - £1.4m (€1.6m) |