- as they set new wage record
Barcelona have become the first football team in history to pay its players an average wage of more than £10 million per-year, according to various recent reports .
The La Liga giants are currently second in the Spanish top-flight after the weekend’s 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid, and are just one point behind in-form Sevilla as they look to make it back-to-back titles.
And, frankly, winning their domestic league is the least Barca supporters should expect with the astronomical wages that are being shelled out every week by the club’s hierarchy.
According to the Guardian, the latest Global Sports Salary Survey – which tracks pay in 349 teams across eight sports in 13 countries – shows Barcelona will pay its 23-man squad an eye-watering average of £10.45m, before bonuses, a figure that has risen by a third since the 2017-18 campaign.
Manchester United are the highest British club in the survey in 10th, with an average first-team wage of around £6.5m per season.
We’ve all known for sometime the money surrounding football is insane, but surely paying such an exorbitant average salary can’t go on much long, can it?
In terms of key players, Lionel Messi’s contract was pretty close to running out recently and there were rumours that he could walk away from the place he’s called home for most of his professional career, with Manchester City the likely destination.
Highest wage bills:
1. Barcelona – €487m
2. Real Madrid – €395m
3. Man Utd – €337m
4. Man City – €296m
5. PSG – €272m
6. Bayern – €265m
7. Juve – €259m
8. Chelsea – €256m
9. Liverpool – €241m
10. Arsenal – €232m
However instead he signed a new deal with reports saying that he was now earning a whopping £500,000-per-week but that’s now been changed.
According to Football Leaks, via Media Part, the Argentine is actually paid €100 million-a-year, around €2 million-a-week, unreal money.
Messi earns 85% of his money from his fixed wages, which works out at about €71 million, whilst the rest of the 15% comes from his image rights whilst he also picks up a €70 million bonus if he manages to not leave the Camp Nou before his contract is up.
The new contract, signed this season, runs until 2021 and, after the Catalan giants lost Neymar for £198 million, includes a transfer release clause of £626 million, still not as large as Cristiano Ronaldo’s at Real but likely to stop anyone signing him.