12. Michael Owen (Stoke City) – £40.5m
Michael Owen burst onto the scene at the World Cup in 1998 when he slalomed his way through Argentina’s defence to score for England, and within three years he had both spearheaded his club Liverpool to a treble and picked up the 2001 Ballon d’Or trophy.
With 158 goals in 297 games for Liverpool and 40 strikes in his 89 appearances for England, his stats speak for themselves, but in recent times the 33 year-old has has failed to continue his prolific scoring, particularly since leaving Newcastle in 2009.
Despite his barren run, his image is still extremely marketable. Owen remained one of the faces for Umbro thanks to a long-term sponsorship deal worth £2 million a year, before swapping for Nike at the end of 2012. He has been an ambassador for Swiss watchmakers Tissot since 1998 and also enjoys a long-running contract with Dubai property agent The First Group. Other major endorsements have included Persil and Nestle.
His company, Owen Promotions, showed a ‘net worth’ of £7.5m in its 2010-11 accounts – a rise of £400,000 on the previous year.
He has a love of horses and jointly owns Manor House Stables in Cheshire with Betfair co-founder Andrew Black. Manor House has 90 horses in training (Owen’s share is 10) and the stable produced 81 winners in 2012, generating £850,000 of prize money, including the 2012 Queen Mary with Ceiling Kitty.
Owen has property in Portugal as well as apartments in Liverpool, a Dubai villa valued at £1.7m and a Flintshire family home worth £1.7m. He also travels around in his own personal helicopter worth a cool £2m.