Salary anomaly: United are the most generous but trophyless, Bale and Hazard are 'killing' Real Madrid, Neymar earns twice as much as Mbappe

Players' salaries as an anomaly. Eternal inspiration for the media and the fans. This time, Marca's extensive research has shown a discrepancy between the income of individuals, their performance on the pitch and the results of the teams they play for.

The respectable Spanish daily dealt in detail with the calculation of players' salaries in the five strongest European leagues - Manchester United are by far the biggest spender when it comes to player expenses, and almost for a decade not even close to winning the title. It is similar in Madrid, where individuals (read, Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard) earn the most at Real, although they are far from the starting 11, and perhaps the biggest abnormality is the fact that in PSG - Neymar earns almost twice as much as Kylian Mbappe. Even though the Brazilian is not even close to the young Frenchman - performance-wise.

Research has shown that the English dealt with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic the best. For them, the world crisis almost did not exist. They dominate the money set aside for players' salaries. Figures are given in gross amount. More precisely, that's how much the player costs the club. Among them, Manchester United positioned themselves as the most luxurious, with as many as four in the top five earners: Cristiano Ronaldo, David de Gea, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane. Kevin de Bruyne sneaked in between them, although it is clear to everyone that the influence of the Belgian on the results of Manchester City is far greater than those listed. Maybe even combined. It even came to the point that the Portuguese Ronaldo reduced his salary compared to the one at Juventus and is again the top earner in the Premier League.

Such expenditures are explained, among other things, by the fact that there are no restrictions in the UK, as, for example, in Spain, where each club has an allowed salary limit. Hence, it is a regular occurrence that even the clubs in the middle of the table give 1,000,000 euros for the personal income of individuals, while such a case is very difficult to find in the continental part of Europe. There are even examples of some members of the EFL Championship giving more money for salaries than they can afford, which is why they risk experiencing a financial shipwreck in the event of relegation.

TEN MOST PAID FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE (IN EUROS)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) 31,560,000

Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City) 24,720,000

David de Gea (Manchester United) 23,300,000

Jadon Sancho (Manchester United) 21,700,000

Raphael Varane (Manchester United) 21,133,000

Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea) 20,300,000

Jack Grealish (Manchester City) 18,600,000

Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) 18,600,000

N'Golo Kante (Chelsea) 18,000,000

Paul Pogba (Manchester United) 18,000,000

Cristiano Ronaldo (©Getty Images)

Despite the fact that in recent years they have been left without resounding names (Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Ramos), the Spaniards are still highly ranked. Especially their most influential clubs. Although, there is a gap in them between what is shown on the pitch and the calculation of salaries. Thus, Gareth Bale is the highest-paid football player in La Liga, because he costs Real Madrid 34,000,000 euros gross annually, while he has not played regularly for the last two seasons.

Antoine Griezmann is not exactly the striker he was in his first term at Atletico Madrid, while in his second tenure at Wanda Metropolitano he earns 30,000,000 euros, just like Eden Hazard at the Santiago Bernabeu, and he barely even stepped on the pitch, let alone contributed to the first position in the standings. Fourth place is taken by Karim Benzema, the locomotive of the current train composition of Carlo Ancelotti. Interestingly, only one first-team player of Barcelona is in the top ten, experienced midfielder Sergio Busquets costs the Catalans 23,000,000 euros this year.

When it comes to the money that remains in the football player's account, it depends on the tax. It's not the same everywhere.

"Taxes are a state issue. Footballers pay one quota to the state, and one to the autonomous region where the club is from, but it varies from the place of residence. For example, a Real Madrid player gives 45 to 50 percent of his salary to the vault, and a Barcelona player gives exactly 50 percent", explained Jose Felix Diaz, a journalist from Marca.

Do the math...

TEN MOST PAID FOOTBALLERS IN LA LIGA (IN EUROS)

Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) 34,000,000

Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) 30,000,000

Eden Hazard (Real Madrid) 30,000,000

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 24,000,000

Sergio Busquets (Barcelona) 23,000,000

Tony Cross (Real Madrid) 22,000,000

Jordi Alba (Barcelona) 20,000,000

Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) 20,000,000

David Alaba (Real Madrid) 20,000,000

Luka Modric (Real Madrid) 20,000,000

It is all crystal clear in Germany - Bayern are on top. Results-wise and finance-wise. Among the ten highest-paid footballers, as many as nine play in Munich. The only exception is the captain of Borussia Dortmund, Marco Reus.

"Other clubs have two options to match the Bavarians. The first is to decide to take on a project, to be ready to suffer or wait a few years to come to life and become solvent, and the second involves foreign investment, which would allow them to become dominant overnight, but this is impossible due to the 50 + 1 rule." explained Daniel Martinez, CEO of 'EL FUTBOL - App Futbol Aleman'.

The general manager of Borussia Dortmund, Hans Joachim Watzke, said in a similar way the other day:

"You have to take into account the fact that the total salary difference between Bayern and us is probably more than 150,000,000 euros. That is a more drastic gap than between Borussia and the last team on the Bundesliga table, Greuther Furth. "

Marca also reminds that during the presidency of Uli Hoennes, there was an unwritten rule about the limit that should not be crossed when it comes to the salaries of football players. With his retirement, the rule became more flexible, which was best seen by the fact that Bayern paid RB Leipzig around 20,000,000 euros in compensation for manager Julian Nagelsmann, increased the salary of Robert Lewandowski, brought Lucas Hernandez and made him one of the highest-paid players in the team.

TEN MOST PAID FOOTBALLERS IN BUNDESLIGA (IN EUROS)

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern) 23,000,000

Manuel Neuer (Bayern) 20,000,000

Leroy Sane (Bayern) 20,000,000

Thomas Muller (Bayern) 20,000,000

Joshua Kimmich (Bayern) 20,000,000

Lucas Hernandez (Bayern) 18,000,000

Leon Goretzka (Bayern) 18,000,000

Kingsley Coman (Bayern) 17,000,000

Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) 12,000,000

Alphosno Davies (Bayern) 11,250,000

Robert Lewandowski (©Getty Images)

As for the Italians, the league is not as attractive or strong as it was in the 90s, nor do the world's most famous names play in it. Well again - there is an anomaly. The four highest-paid players wear the shirt of Juventus, the team that is fighting for a place in the Champions League, while only Alessio Romagnoli is the representative of the league leaders, AC Milan.

In order to clarify the system of calculating salaries in the Apennine peninsula, it is worth knowing that the government there adopted a specific decree two years ago. Based on the changes in the tax system, the difference between those who earn the most and those who cost the club the most becomes noticeable. The rule introduced in 2020 has allowed clubs to set aside less tax money for players brought in from abroad. For example Matthijs de Ligt gets the most money net (8,000,000 euros per season when belonging to the state is deducted), while the Old Lady from Turin pays more for other players.

TEN MOST PAID FOOTBALLERS IN SERIE A (IN EUROS)

Paulo Dybala (Juventus) 13,510,000

Dušan Vlahović (Juventus) 12,950,000

Wojciech Szczęsny (Juventus) 12,030,000

Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus) 12,030,000

Lautaro Martinez (Inter) 11,100,000

Alex Sandro (Juventus) 11,100,000

Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli) 11,100,000

Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus) 10,480,000

Alessio Romagnoli (Milan) 10,180,000

Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter) 9,250,000

Paulo Dybala (©Getty Images)

In the end, the most glamorous. But not the best. Paris Saint-Germain have been pumping money from the Middle East for a decade to form a team capable of winning the Champions League. But failed so far. At the same time, they spend almost 50,000,000 euros on Neymar's salary every season, while the Saints pay "only" 26,400,000 to Kylian Mbappe. If you look at it that way, it seems that the former Barcelona member would have to play twice as well as the former Monaco player. And vice versa.

Just as Bayern is untouchable in terms of salaries in Germany, so is the case with PSG in the country of the current world champion. The ten highest-paid players are stationed at Parc des Princes. Along with Neymar, there are Messi, Mbappe, Marquinhos, Veratti, Hakimi...

However, it is worth knowing that the almost 49,000,000 euros in the case of Neymar is actually the gross salary of a Brazilian. What it costs the Parisians. When the tax is deducted, he has about 30,000,000 euros left. Messi's core salary is lower, but the bonuses in the case of the Argentine are higher than Neymar's. It is worth mentioning that Leo did not have any "loyalty bonus" that followed him at the Nou Camp, but after the end of the upcoming transfer window - if he stays in Paris Saint-Germain - he will receive 30,000,000 euros.

TEN MOST PAID FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN LIGUE 1 (IN BONUS)

Neymar (PSG) 48,996,000

Lionel Messi (PSG) 40,500.00

Kylian Mbappe (PSG) 26,400,000

Marquinhos (PSG) 14,400,000

Marco Veratti (PSG) 14,400,000

Achraf Hakimi (PSG) 12,996,000

Keylor Navas (PSG) 12,000,000

Angel di Maria (PSG) 11,400,000

Giorginio Wijnaldum (PSG) 10,992,000

Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG) 10,992,000

Neymar (©Getty Images)