36. Joe Cole (West Ham United) – £19.5m
When Joe Cole was 16 years old, Manchester United wanted to sign the Hammer for £10 million, but the move never materialised. Cole did leave Upton Park for Chelsea in a £6.6m deal in 2003, where he collected three Premier League titles and three FA Cup winners’ medals.
In west London, he picked up a salary worth £80,000-a-week and enjoyed a lucrative sponsorship with Adidas, before joining Liverpool in 2010 which included a reported £2m signing on fee.
The move never really worked out for the skillful attacker though and he was loaned out to Lille for a year prior to his recent return to West Ham.
His disappointing but lucrative spell at Liverpool finally came to an end in the January transfer window after the Anfield club allowed the England midfielder to make an emotional return to his beloved West Ham after almost 10 years away from Upton Park.
The Reds decided to remove 31 year-old Cole’s £90,000-a-week salary from the Kop wage bill and agreed a £3m pay-off with the Londoner, who had 18 months remaining on his contract.
Cole’s properties include a £5m West London house and £1.5m luxury apartment in Dubai Palm Jumeirah. Joe Cole Promotions showed £591,000 of net assets in 2010-11. He married his fitness instructor wife Carly Zucker in 2009 and received a £2m fee for the wedding photos from Hello Magazine, but donated the money to charity.