A top ten of the wealthiest footballers plying their trade in the English top tier.
10. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) £24m
Argentine cost Man City £38m back in July 2011 and the former Atletico Madrid man will have been banking a massive salary ever since and no doubt supplementing those earnings with a hugely profitable goal-scoring bonus.
26 year old has a lucrative long running deal with sports brand Puma which will be drawing a healthy sum.
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9. Yaya Toure (Manchester City) £25m
Ivorian has been on a hefty £250k a week deal with Man City for the past four seasons but rumours that he earned another million for every successful pass completed against West Ham during the club’s 6-0 thrashing of the Hammers are thankfully for the Etihad Stadium side, baseless.
Toure also enjoys a big money brand deal with Puma.
8. Fernando Torres (Chelsea) £26m
Spaniard would have earned a big signing on fee off the back of his £50m British record transfer from Liverpool to Chelsea though if he’s not careful Roman Abramovich may well demand his money back before marching him back to Anfield and demanding a refund for his faulty purchase.
7. Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) £27m
Those gagging orders don’t come cheap but clearly the veteran Welshman has accrued some serious amount of cash over the twenty years plus he has spent in the Old Trafford first team.
The 40 year old enjoys a big sponsorship deal with Reebok and remains on a £75k a week deal with Man United despite being something of a bit-part player.
6. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) £29m
The one club man’s bank balance is perhaps all the more impressive given the lack of transfer fee percentages he would have earned from leaving Anfield.
Gerrard has a big deal in place with Lucozade as well as a book deal (insert joke here).
5. John Terry (Chelsea) £29m
Veteran centre-back can afford the best lawyers money can buy, but seriously the Blues star has been one of the Premier League highest earners for a decade plus and it’s no surprise that he has a very healthy bank balance as a result.
Terry’s earnings are greatly complemented by a growing housing portfolio, you probably think this statement is a nice intro to some sort of joke relating to the Chelsea man’s extra-marital behaviour, you’d be wrong..unfortunately.
4. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) £31m
Wow, £31m, that can buy a lot of pies.
3. Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) £37m
Years at the top of his game have clearly generated big funds but these have been nicely accompanied by earnings generated from his ‘#5’ brand.
2. Samuel Eto’o (Chelsea) £39m
Well traveled Cameroon international earned an astonishing £16.5m at Anzhi Makhachkala and clearly made a fair bit of money during spells at European giants Barcelona and Inter Milan. His Chelsea goal bonus hasn’t perhaps been generating as much as he would have hoped though.
1. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) £45m
So the England international is the Premier League’s richest player though the question is, does he still pay for things by cheque?
On a more serious note a £250k wage packet and big money sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike and HarperCollins have helped take the 28 year old Old Trafford star to the top of the pile, will he be set for a another payday with a possible summer move in the offing?
Financial data courtesy of the Daily Mail.