Barcelona had the largest wage bill in 2023 at €639 million; PSG, Man City, Real Madrid next in list

Barcelona are in a deep financial mess, and have been for three to four years now. Josep Bartomeu’s tenure as president set up every successor after him for failure, with the current administration now facing the consequences.

While the club have been trying to solve this problem for a while, they still face problems while signing and registering players due to the Financial Fair Play quota.

This boils down to the bizarre wage bill the club have on their books. Frenkie de Jong, for example, is the highest-paid player in the squad and earns around as much as Toni Kroos and Jude Bellingham do at Real Madrid.

Despite having two players earning as much as de Jong, according to 90min, Barcelona had the highest wage bill in Europe, with €639 million going towards players’ salaries.

Paris Saint-Germain, who host Kylian Mbappe — on €72 million per year —the highest salary in Europe, are second in this list, at €617 million. They did get rid of Lionel Messi and Neymar in the summer, though, which would have helped their cause.

Manchester City round off the podium, with a wage bill of €554 million. Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland are among the best-paid players in the Premier League, both on around the same salary as de Jong.

Finally, in fourth place are Real Madrid, who spent €453 million on salaries in 2023, which is almost €200 million less than Barcelona.

However, losing Karim Benzema in the summer must have helped their cause, even if they brought in Jude Bellingham. These numbers could be different next season, especially if they bring in Mbappe and Alphonso Davies, both of whom are linked with the club.

Liverpool are next up on the list at €429 million, followed by Bayern Munich (€416 million), Chelsea (€397 million), Manchester United (€381 million), Tottenham Hotspur (€289 million), and finally Juventus (€283 million) that round off the top 10.