Figures have emerged showing the full list of wages being paid out by Premier League clubs this season.
It’s interesting to get a look at the numbers at Manchester United and Liverpool in particular right now – two teams going about trying to achieve success in very different ways, and one doing a lot better than the other.
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Namely, Liverpool have done some smart recruitment on the cheap in recent times, with the club great at identifying talent that others have missed, while manager Jurgen Klopp is then the ideal coach to lift players to new levels.
United, by contrast, have splashed out huge sums on plenty of flops in the transfer market, with many of them still on their payroll.
As shown in this graphic from Spotrac, Man Utd really are paying some silly money for players who are absolutely stealing a living at the moment.
David de Gea is their top earner by some distance despite a recent dip in form, raking in as much as £375,000 a week, while the perpetually injured and generally underwhelming Paul Pogba is in second place with wages of £290,000 a week.
Even crazier perhaps is Luke Shaw taking home as much as £150,000 a week, especially when you compare it with wages for Liverpool’s full-backs.
LFC numbers – also available on Spotrac – show that one of the club’s finest performers of recent times, Trent Alexander-Arnold, only earns £40,000 a week, or less than a third of what Shaw makes. Meanwhile, Andrew Robertson, surely a much better left-back than Shaw, is only earning £50,000 a week.
Combined, that’s £90,000 a week being spent on two of the finest full-backs in world football at Anfield, while at Old Trafford ageing converted full-back Ashley Young, now most often seen on the bench, is on £120,000 a week.
There are numerous other shockers, almost too many to mention, but Nemanja Matic taking home £120,000 a week, more than players like Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum, is also particularly laughable.