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Right, let me walk you through how I dug into Premier League salaries today. Started cause my mates kept arguing who really tops the pay charts this season.
First, I grabbed my laptop and brewed some strong coffee. Didn’t trust those flashy “top 10 richest footballers” sites popping up first. Full of ads and suspicious numbers. Went straight to the Premier League’s official financial reports instead. Dry stuff, but more reliable.
Facing Early Headaches
Thought it’d be simple. Open the docs, find the salary section, done. Nah. Got hit with pages of accounting jargon – “amortisation,” “image rights,” “bonus structures.” My eyes glazed over. Needed actual take-home pay numbers, not club expenditure spread over years.
Switched tactics. Pulled up last summer’s reliable journalism – the Athletic, BBC Sport, Sky Sports. Cross-checked their insider leaks.
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The Messy Reality:
- Reports conflicted. Some included signing bonuses upfront; others spread them.
- Image rights deals? Wildly inconsistent depending who leaked.
- Man City’s creative accounting made it impossible to pin one number on Haaland.
- Kevin De Bruyne’s new contract details were fuzzy about goal bonuses.
Copied that raw data into a messy spreadsheet anyway. Started with De Bruyne’s alleged £400k weekly basic. Dropped in Salah’s £350k base. Added Haaland’s complex package. Saw Rashford’s £300k pop up. Felt suspicious about Casemiro’s figures – two sources said £300k, one said £350k. Went with £300k to play it safe.
The Ugly Sorting Process
Sorted Z to A on weekly wage column. No nice graphs, just stark numbers:
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My Rough Shortlist:
- 1. Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) – £400k/wk (mostly guaranteed)
- 2. Erling Haaland (Man City) – £375k/wk (base + murky bonuses)
- 3. Mo Salah (Liverpool) – £350k/wk (solid reports)
- 4. Casemiro (Man United) – £300k/wk (after downgrading)
- 5. Marcus Rashford (Man United) – £300k/wk (post-new deal)
Stared at it. This wasn’t clean. De Bruyne probably edges it on reliable cash hitting his account weekly. But Haaland’s total package? Bonuses could push him way higher. Clubs hide real numbers like state secrets. My list feels half-guesswork despite all the digging.
Showed it to my brother. He laughed. “You spent hours for this? Could’ve just Googled a tabloid list!” Exactly the point. Those tidy lists online are fantasy. The real process? Grinding through dull reports, wrestling with contradictions, accepting messy truths. Premier League wages are a foggy jungle. We see shapes, not clear numbers. And De Bruyne? For now, with the info sweating over, he’s likely pocketing the most every week. But don’t bet your house on it.