The 6 players in Europe who will earn more than Mohamed Salah after his new deal
Mohamed Salah is reportedly on the cusp of signing a new two-year deal with Liverpool – but how much will he earn in wages, and how will that compare to European football’s biggest superstars?
Exact figures are yet to be established, but The Times’ Paul Joyce – a very reputable source – has claimed “taking a pay cut has not been on the agenda” with Salah’s representatives.
That indicates that the 32-year-old will at least be retaining his current £350,000-a-week salary, while Egyptian journalist Ismael Mahmoud has claimed his wages could rise to £400,000.
Trusting the lower end of the scale for now, here are the six players across Europe’s five major leagues who are estimated to earn more in wages than Salah. Figures are via Capology.
Robert Lewandowski
Some questioned the wisdom of Barcelona handing out a hefty deal to a player in his mid-thirties, but it’s gone alright for them so far.
The Poland international fired the club to the La Liga title in his debut season and is now spearheading their brilliant treble charge in 2024-25.
Lewandowski turns 37 in the summer, but he’s demonstrated there’s life in the old dog yet.
With his wages reportedly going up year on year, it’s said that he takes home €640,962 (£541,020) a week. It runs for one more season after this one.
Kylian Mbappe
Unsurprisingly, Mbappe features somewhere near the top of Europe’s top earners.
Real Madrid were chasing the World Cup winner for years and didn’t have to pay any fee for his signature when he departed PSG.
It’s believed that he takes home €600,962 (£507,257) a week at the Bernabeu, having signed a five-year deal that runs until 2029.
Harry Kane
Not only did Bayern Munich pay a club-record €100million to take the England captain to Bavaria, but they’re also paying him a hefty pay packet too.
There have been murmurings linking Kane with a move back to the Premier League, with Liverpool among those linked.
You can imagine him returning to these shores to chase down Alan Shearer’s record, but not for another year or two yet.
Kane’s earnings are reportedly €480,769 (£405,806) a week, and he’s approaching the halfway point of the four-year deal he signed back in 2023.
Erling Haaland
Kevin De Bruyne currently takes home a reported weekly wage of £400,000, making him the Premier League’s top earner. And he negotiated it without the aid of an agent – who needs ’em, anyway?
But the brilliant Belgian is into the final couple of months of his big-money deal and has just announced that he’ll be leaving at the end of the season.
That’ll make his Manchester City team-mate Erling Haaland the Premier League’s highest earner next season, save for any wild superstar signings in the summer.
The Norwegian striker recently put pen to paper on a record-breaking 9½-year contract at the Etihad, banking him a reported £500,000-a-week until 2034.
READ: The 12 most lucrative contracts in football history: Where does Erling Haaland rank?
David Alaba
Real Madrid have done well to claim brilliant footballers on a free after their contracts expired, with Trent Alexander-Arnold expected to follow in the footsteps of Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba.
The lack of a transfer fee gives the player’s representatives something extra when it comes to negotiating wages.
You imagine that Alexander-Arnold will earn a shedload in the Spanish capital, if the precedent set by Mbappe and Alaba is anything to go by.
Fresh from a wildly successful stint at Bayern Munich, Alaba immediately proved himself worth the investment in his mega salary – reportedly worth €432,000 (£365,000) a week.
He was outstanding in his debut season at the Bernabeu, starring as they won a La Liga and Champions League double.
Unfortunately the 32-year-old Austria international since suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and the evidence of his performance in Los Blancos’ 3-0 defeat to Arsenal suggests he’s struggling to get back to his old levels.
Alaba’s current deals runs until 2026 and at this point you don’t imagine that Madrid will be extending it. You imagine he’ll have to take a significant pay cut, wherever he ends up next.
Dusan Vlahovic
A surprise name, perhaps, Vlahovic was one of European football’s most in-demand strikers when Juventus beat Arsenal to his signature back in January 2022.
His wages evidently matched his status at the time, but it would be fair to say that the strapping Serbian’s move to Turin hasn’t quite worked out as planned.
He has a respectable one-in-two goalscoring return for the Old Lady, but reports from the Italian media suggest they’ll be looking to offload him at the end of the season.
Vlahovic’s current deal runs until 2026, so this summer’s transfer window represents their last realistic opportunity to cash in.
Wages could be a sticking point in a potential transfer – it’s difficult to envisage too many suitors offering to match his current salary, estimated to be €427,308 (£360,680) a week.
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