According to several reports, the new PSG superstar Lionel Messi is still the world’s highest-paid footballer, even after his move to Paris Saint-Germain. The six-time Ballon d’Or winner is still ahead in terms of wages of his fierce rival Cristiano Ronaldo. Discussed the top 5 highest-paid footballers in the world in 2021.
Lionel Messi (PSG): £960,000 per week
Argentinian forward Lionel Messi edged out Juventus superstar Ronaldo to be the best-paid player in the world. According to reports, the Barcelona legend earns a mouth-watering £25 Million per year as his base salary after taxes are deducted. This figure does not include bonuses, extra fees and the players’ various sponsorship deals. Messi is reportedly on a whopping £960,000 per week in the French capital, which puts him, £60,000 ahead of the second-placed Ronaldo. However, this does not include any sort of sponsorship or appearance fees. If those numbers were included, Lionel Messi would earn in excess of a million per week.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus): £900,000 per week
Cristiano Ronaldo may be the most followed sportsperson on Instagram but his annual earnings are marginally dwarfed by one footballer. The Portuguese superstar tops up his near-million pound weekly wages with an annual figure of approximately £34m in other earnings from his own CR7 brand and sponsors such as Nike and Herbalife. He became the top goalscorer in football history with a goal for Juventus against Napoli in the 2021 Italian Super Cup to take his total for club and country to 760 and has continued to find the net since.
Neymar (PSG): £606,000 per week
The poster boy of Brazilian football, Neymar beefed up his bank balance by sealing a world-record £200m transfer to PSG from Barcelona in 2017. He is paid more than £30million per year by the French club before bonuses, who have assembled a squad of superstars in their bid to land the elusive Champions League title.
Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid): £575,000 per week
Ex-Barcelona star Suarez has taken up Griezmann’s spot at his old haunt, Atletico. Suarez was controversially sold by Barcelona for a very low fee and made them pay dearly as he fired Atletico to the La Liga title at the first time of asking. He scored 21 goals in 32 La Liga games to super charge Atletico’s surge for the title and has been worth every penny of his wage, unlike some of Barcelona’s big-name stars.
Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona): £575,000 per week
Barcelona’s long-anticipated signing of Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid in 2019 is the fifth most expensive transfer in history but the versatile forward has hardly set the Nou Camp alight. He infamously celebrated a goal in the 2018 World Cup final by performing Fortnite’s ‘Take the L’ dance and he started his own eSports team last year.
