La Liga may not be regarded as the world’s richest league, but its 10 highest earners are taking home a bigger average wage than their counterparts in the Premier League.
Vinicius Jr could have become the second-highest-paid player in the Premier League had he genuinely pushed for a move to Arsenal. Instead, he holds that position in La Liga, helping lift the Spanish top flight above England’s top division in terms of the average salary earned by the 10 best-paid players.
For comparison, here is the top 10 highest-paid players in each of Europe’s five major leagues. All salary figures are taken from Capology, with every league apart from the Premier League converted into pounds sterling.
1) Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid) – £513,000 2) Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid) – £513,000 3) Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) – £342,000 4) Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) – £342,000 5) Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) – £342,000 6) Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao) – £282,000 7) Ibrahima Konate (Real Madrid) – £274,000 8) Raphinha (Barcelona) – £274,000 9) Rodrygo (Real Madrid) – £274,000 10) Trent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid) – £274,000
Average weekly salary of the top 10 highest-paid players in La Liga: £343,000
Capology estimates that Vini Jr’s new contract has put him level with Mbappe in terms of guaranteed weekly pay, although the France forward receives significantly larger bonuses.
Oblak’s salary is particularly notable, with Atletico Madrid paying him more than four of the Premier League’s Big Six clubs pay their top earners.
And credit where it is due to Ibrahima Konate’s agent…
1) Erling Haaland (Manchester City) – £525,000 2) Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) – £350,000 3) Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) – £300,000 4) Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) – £300,000 5) Jack Grealish (Manchester City) – £300,000 6) Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) – £300,000 7) Omar Marmoush (Manchester City) – £295,000 8) Alexander Isak (Liverpool) – £280,000 9) Phil Foden (Manchester City) – £280,000 10) Kai Havertz (Arsenal) – £280,000
Average weekly salary of the top 10 highest-paid players in the Premier League: £321,000
You could make the case that half of this top 10 are not delivering value for money, with Manchester United left having to manage the Marcus Rashford situation because no other club would even think about matching the wages they are committed to paying a player who has not appeared for them since 2024.
He is one of three players in the top 10 who could be moved on this summer.
And Haaland still has just EIGHT years left on his contract…
1) Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) – £411,000 2) Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich) – £375,000 3) Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) – £329,000 4) Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich) – £263,000 5) Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) – £248,000 6) Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) – £246,000 7) Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich) – £230,000 8) Michael Olise (Bayern Munich) – £222,000 9) Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich) – £214,000 10) Min-jae Kim (Bayern Munich) – £197,000
Average weekly salary of the top 10 highest-paid players in the Bundesliga: £273,500
You have to go down to joint-13th on the list to find a player paid by any club other than Bayern Munich, with Borussia Dortmund’s highest-paid player earning £155,000 per week.
A top 10 excluding Bayern would include five Borussia Dortmund players, three from Bayer Leverkusen and two from RB Leipzig, with an average weekly salary of £131,000.
1) Ousmane Dembele (PSG) – £299,000 2) Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG) – £269,000 3) Achraf Hakimi (PSG) – £224,000 4) Marquinhos (PSG) – £221,000 5) Lucas Hernandez (PSG) – £218,000 6) Vitinha (PSG) – £194,000 7) Warren Zaire-Emery (PSG) – £188,000 8) Nuno Mendes (PSG) – £179,000 9) Willian Pacho (PSG) – £149,000 10) Joao Neves (PSG) – £149,000
Average weekly salary of the top 10 highest-paid players in Ligue 1: £209,000
Much like Bayern’s grip on the Bundesliga, PSG unsurprisingly fill the entire top 10. Lyon appear in 11th place, but only because they agreed to cover Lois Openda’s Juventus wages when they signed him on loan for the season.
Without that arrangement, PSG would occupy the top 13 before Marseille enter the list because of their obligation to pay Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg £104,000 a week – though perhaps not for much longer.
Liverpool cannot have faced too many issues agreeing Bradley Barcola’s personal terms given that he is currently earning only £104,000 a week. Perhaps the lad deserves a collection.
1) Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan) – £274,000 2) Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan) – £198,000 3) Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan) – £183,000 4) Jonathan David (Juventus) – £183,000 5) Kenan Yildiz (Juventus) – £183,000 6) Kevin De Bruyne (Napoli) – £183,000 7) Randal Kolo Muani (Juventus) – £167,000 8) Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan) – £167,000 9) Christopher Nkunku (AC Milan) – £152,000 10) Rasmus Hojlund (Napoli) – £152,000
Average weekly salary of the top 10 highest-paid players in Serie A: £184,000
Those late-1980s and early-1990s days of Gazzetta Football Italia, when Italian clubs were handing out the biggest salaries in the game, are now far behind.
Serie A has now dropped to the bottom among Europe’s top five leagues, with Juventus still struggling to get proper value for money.
