Top earners in world football

SOME obvious names leap to mind when you think of the highest paid players in Europe.

Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland – these are the stars people expect to occupy the top spots.

Kylian Mbappe is by far the highest-paid player in European football

Harry Kane is the best-paid footballer after Mbappe

Mbappe, 25, earns nearly THREE TIMES the next biggest earner in the sport, with the French superstar raking in around £5.15million every month – which equates to £61.8m per year.

He is followed by Bayern striker Kane, 30, whose salary stands at £1.8m – narrowly beating Manchester City duo De Bruyne [1.73m] and Haaland [1.63m] – although Haaland’s substantial bonuses are understood to take his wage to around £3.4m per month.

But there are always some surprise players that make up the top 10 best-paid footballers.

One of the biggest culprits for spending too much money on player wages is Manchester United.

And it is no surprise two Red Devils stars that have underwhelmed at Old Trafford are still on extortionate wages.

Casemiro sits joint-seventh on the list with a salary of £1.52m per month, while Raphael Varane is just behind him in ninth on £1.48m.

And they are not the only shock names on the list.

Real Madrid’s David Alaba sits fifth behind the quartet of superstars.

Kevin De Bruyne is the highest-paid Premier League player

De Bruyne is paid a tad more than team-mate Erling Haaland as a basic salary, but the Norwegian has some huge bonuses in his contract

David Alaba is the top Real Madrid player on the list

Robert Lewandowski is the only Barcelona player to make the top 10

The Austria captain, 31, is a superb talent that can play in midfield or at full-back, but fans will still be surprised to learn he is taking home £1.61m every month.

He is Los Blancos’ best-paid player, although Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham [both £1.43m] also make the list in joint-10th.

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Above them, sixth and joint-seventh are taken up by Barcelona No9 Robert Lewandowski [£1.6m] and Liverpool talisman Mo Salah [£1.52m] – who boasts the same wages as Casemiro.

And Lewandowski’s team-mate Ilkay Gundogan also creeps into the list in 10th with the same salary as Vinicius and Bellingham – as does Atletico Madrid keeper Jan Oblak.