Messi Tops Richest Players List

How does $44 million per year sound?

Rightly so, Messi tops new richest players list. A big reason why is the £3.6 million bonus for helping Barcelona win the treble last season. And Messi is showing why he deserves to earn the most money, scoring goal after goal for Barcelona these past weeks. Two hat tricks in less than two weeks.

The France Football rich list:

Highest Paid Soccer Players
(combines salaries, bonuses and off-field earnings)

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) £29.6m
2. David Beckham (LA Galaxy/Milan) £27.3m
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £27m
4. Kaka (Real Madrid) £16.9m
5. Thierry Henry (Barcelona) £16.1m
6. Ronaldinho (AC Milan) £15.5m
7. Carlos Tevez (Manchester City) £13.8m
8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona) £13m
9. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) £12.8m
10. Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan) £12.4m

However, Lionel Messi’s manager, Pep Guardiola, despite the treble win, sits in eighth place. Didn’t Pep get a bonus for the treble? I guess not. I’m sure if Guardiola is able to win La Liga or the Champions League again his salary will only grow.

Soccer Managers

1. Jose Mourinho (Inter Milan) £11.7m
2. Roberto Mancini (Manchester City) £10.8m
3. Felipe Scolari (FC Bunyodkor) £8.5m
4. Jurgen Klinsmann (ex-Bayern Munich) £8.1m
5. Fabio Capello (England) £7.5m
6. Guus Hiddink (Russia) £7.1m
7. Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) £6.5m
8. Pep Guardiola (Barcelona) £5.8m
9. Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) £5.7m
10. Louis Van Gaal (Bayern Munich) £5.4m

Run down from the USA Today:

The Argentina forward is said to have made euro33 million ($44 million) last year.

Beckham, who has been first or second in each of the last nine years, took home euro30.4 million ($40.5 million) in 2009, according to the report.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo was third with euro30 million ($40 million), while teammate Kaka was a distant fourth with euro18.8 million ($25 million). Thierry Henry was fifth with euro18 million ($24 million).

France Football, which has ranked the best-paid players since 1999, calculated the figures based on salary and endorsements.