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In recent hours, the tide is turning for Saudi Arabia, the new stronghold of world football. If many stars have decided to join the Gulf country, many are those who have their first doubts. With this in mind, Jordan Henderson returned to Europe, committing to Ajax Amsterdam, while Aymeric Laporte made a murderous outing about the Saudi Pro League and the level of investment of its leaders. However, the largest country in the Middle East with an area of more than two million square kilometers remains unbeatable in one area: money. As such, The Mirror offers, this Saturday, a ranking of the highest paid players on the planet and the second largest country in the Arab world knocks out the competition.
Thus, four of the ten highest paid players are currently playing in the Saudi championship. In the lead, Cristiano Ronaldo – who does not hesitate to tackle Ligue 1 to promote his new environment – is undoubtedly the best-off player. With 260 million dollars (or around 238 million euros) gleaned in 2023, the Al Nassr star largely dominates this top 10. The five-time Ballon d’Or is ahead of Lionel Messi (€124 million), today today under the colors of Inter Miami in MLS. As a reminder, the Argentine world champion receives shares of revenue from Apple and Adidas. To complete the podium, Neymar – currently injured and deregistered from the Al Hilal squad to make way for Renan Lodi – for his part totaled €103 million over the previous year.
CR7 without competition, Mbappé at the foot of the podium!
Just behind the Brazilian, well helped by his numerous partnerships (Puma, Konami, Red Bull, etc.), Kylian Mbappé (25 years old) is not to be pitied either. While we exclusively revealed to you an agreement reached with Real Madrid, the Parisian star, for his part, pocketed the modest sum of 101 million euros. An amount almost equivalent to that received by Karim Benzema in Saudi Arabia. Returning to Al Ittihad after 17 days of absence, the former Real Madrid striker completes the top 5 with around 98 million euros received. Much less paid than these first five names, Erling Haaland, for his part, would have collected 53 million euros from Manchester City.
For the rest, Mohamed Salah – currently at the CAN and out of Egypt’s next two matches due to a hamstring injury – is at the head of 48 million euros, one more than his former teammate at Liverpool, Sadio Mané (47 million euros), now at Al Nassr. Offensive leader of Manchester City, Kevin de Bruyne, who landed a sponsorship contract with McDonald’s last March, is in 9th place with annual remuneration estimated at 35 million euros. Finally, to close this ranking, the new scorer for Bayern Munich, Harry Kane, with a multi-year partnership with Fanatics and copious remuneration in Bavaria, is listed at 33 million euros. Crazy sums confirming the financial power of Saudi Arabia. Also note the absence of players linked to Real Madrid or FC Barcelona in this ranking. An observation which could quickly become obsolete if the Merengues were to formalize the arrival of Kylian Mbappé or Erling Haaland…
The complete top 10 highest paid stars
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr): 260 million dollars (238 million euros)
2. Lionel Messi (Inter Miami): 135 million dollars (123,795,871.92 euros)
3. Neymar (Al Hilal): 112 million dollars (102,704,723 euros)
4. Kylian Mbappé (PSG): 110 million dollars (100,870,710.46 euros)
5. Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad): 106 million dollars (97,202,684 euros)
6. Erling Haaland (Manchester City): 58 million dollars (53,186,374 euros)
7. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool): 53 million dollars (48,601,342 euros)
8. Sadio Mané (Al Nassr): 52 million dollars (47,684,335 euros)
9. Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City): 39 million dollars (35,763,251 euros)
10. Harry Kane (Bayern Munich): 36 million dollars (33,012,232 euros)