For years, Sadio Mane glided by the nickname “Samba Alar” amongst a few of his harsher critics.
The disapproving sobriquet highlighted his starring function at membership stage which jarred with seemingly underwhelming shows for the Senegal nationwide crew. Nowadays, the very reverse is true.
Mane scored the penalty to win Senegal’s first Africa Cup of Nations title and steered his nation to the World Cup finals final 12 months. But, the shin harm Mane sustained whereas taking part in for Bayern Munich in November dominated him out of all the event.
The previous Liverpool star scored only one Bundesliga purpose after the World Cup. Moderately than battle for kind and a beginning berth in Bavaria, Mane has agreed phrases with Saudi Professional League aspect Al Nassr, who’re captained by a sure Cristiano Ronaldo.
Together with his official unveiling imminent, here is how Mane’s inflated wage compares to his new teammates.
On the finish of June, Mane was utterly disinterested in any of the gives pouring in from the Saudi Professional League, as reported by 90min on the time.
But, within the house of two weeks, Mane carried out a head-spinning U-turn and accepted Al Nassr’s phrases. Admittedly, an annual wage of £34m – £650,000 per week – have to be fairly persuasive. Though, he wasn’t precisely struggling for money at Bayern.
Mane could have been outscored by 33 gamers final season however he was the Bundesliga’s prime earner. In contrast to lots of the different people which were lured away from European leagues searching for Saudi’s riches, Mane’s wage bump does not initially look like earth-shattering – in truth, it is lower than double what Bayern paid him.
Bayern Munich signed Mane for an preliminary payment of £27.5m final summer time as Robert Lewandowski’s nominal substitute. Mane could not match the Pole for objectives however he did fill his function as Bayern’s best-paid participant, taking residence £360,000 every week (£18.9m).
Nevertheless, there isn’t a private earnings tax in Saudi Arabia – the state is wealthy sufficient. Whereas in Germany, Mane would have misplaced 45% of his wages on account of taxation, guaranteeing that the Senegal worldwide truly pocketed £10.4m final season as soon as the SDP bought their slice.
For the third time in his profession, Ronaldo has been ranked because the highest-paid athlete on the earth by US enterprise journal Forbes. If Ronaldo continues to sulk and strut in Saudi Arabia, there may be little probability of another particular person displacing him on the summit.
Ronaldo reportedly rakes in a sickening sum of £177m every year from his fundamental wage at Al Nassr. As many as 17 Premier League golf equipment, together with runners-up Arsenal, spent much less on the wage invoice for his or her whole squad final season.
Earlier than he forcibly severed ties with Manchester United by way of the acidic medium of a Piers Morgan interview, Ronaldo was thought to earn round £26.8m per 12 months. Even at Juventus, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner did not come near his present wage; commanding within the area of £49.8m every season in Turin.
READ MORE ON THE PLAYERS LINKED TO SAUDI ARABIA & THE MONEY ON OFFER
Ronaldo’s pay packet dwarfs that of his new teammate. Mane stands to earn lower than a fifth of Ronaldo’s annual wage, despite the fact that he completed second in final 12 months’s Ballon d’Or – 18 locations larger than the Portuguese veteran.
Nevertheless, the 2 Champions League winners aren’t the one notable arrivals at Al Nassr this summer time. Marcelo Brozovic pressured his exit from Internazionale earlier than his new employers had been struck with a switch ban (which has since been lifted). The entrepreneurial midfielder – who opened a cafe-bar known as ‘Epic Brozo’ in Croatia – is assumed to earn the same wage to Mane, round £35m per 12 months.
Whereas Mane and Brozovic have entered the autumn of their profession and Ronaldo is trudging round a wintry end-game, Seko Fofana is at his peak. The 28-year-old midfielder captained RC Lens to second place in Ligue 1 final season, only one level shy of Paris Saint-Germain’s well-paid cabal.
Nevertheless, Fofana had his head turned by Al Nassr’s provide of £13m a 12 months (£250,000 per week). Whereas it’s wanting the sums splashed on a few of his new teammates, Fofana’s improved wage represents a ten-fold enhance in comparison with his wage at Lens.
Alex Telles, Ronaldo’s former Manchester United teammate, earned an estimated earnings of £1.7m throughout his single season on mortgage with Sevilla final time period. United managed to squeeze a £6m switch payment out of Al Nassr for the Europa League champion this summer time who is about to take residence £7m every season in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier than Ronaldo’s arrival and the riches that flooded the division thereafter, the Ivorian defender Ghislain Konan was Al Nassr’s best-paid participant on an annual stipend of the comparatively modest £3.5m. It has been a brief and costly few months.
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