The modern world of football is shrouded in a web of financial jiggery-pokery as money - more than ever - proves to be the driving force behind this greedy game.
La Liga's fierce wage restrictions - if the club is over their budget, players simply cannot be added to the squad on the league's official registration app - have forced Spanish clubs to get more creative than most.
Barcelona were at the forefront of this accounting wizardry when they devised the short-term solution of financial levers last summer. However, the Catalans are not alone in finding avenues to flush cash down for their star players.
Here are La Liga's highest earners - however Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid find a way to pay them.
The highest wages in La Liga
Data via Capology
"There have been many lies and falsehoods spread about my salary," Frenkie de Jong defiantly declared in October 2022. In the wake of COVID-19, the Dutchman followed his teammates in taking a hefty wage deferral to ensure that the club's non-playing staff would not be financially impacted by the pandemic.
However, unlike some of the team's veteran players, De Jong always expected to receive the money he was owed. "In each of the first three years I played here. I cut my salary," he explained. "Eventually, the money comes back, and it comes on top of my normal salary, so it looks bigger."
It looks like De Jong is expected to rake in €721,000 a week - comfortably the highest wage in the Spanish top flight.
The departures of Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba has opened up some wiggle room in Barcelona's wage bill, leaving Robert Lewandowski as the squad's next highest-paid player. However, given Xavi Hernandez has described La Liga's top scorer as "a blessing", he's worth every cent.
Real Madrid have also trimmed their squad salary during the summer of 2023 by jettisoning Eden Hazard and Karim Benzema. Yet, Toni Kroos was offered a one-year extension. The German is thought to earning €469,000, a similar sum to the salary fellow midfielder Luka Modric commanded last term.
While the Croatian maestro may be a couple of months older than Wayne Rooney, there is the distinct possibility that he pens another 12-month deal in the Spanish capital.
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Goalkeeper Jan Oblak has saved roughly four out of every five shots on target across his nine seasons at Atletico Madrid. Only once has 'The Wall' averaged more than one goal conceded per game while helping Atleti finish in the top three every year. For all those reasons and more, Oblak is the club's highest-paid player.
However, Oblak's salary is dwarfed by that of his manager. Diego Simeone has been ranked as the world's most handsomely rewarded coach for years, commanding a weekly wage in excess of €670,000 according to some reports.
In the 2021/22 campaign, Vinicius Junior created more goals for Real Madrid than any of his teammates and scored 22 himself, including the one that won the club a 14th European Cup. Yet, only Andriy Lunin and Jesus Vallejo earned less than Madrid's ultimate match-winner that season.
Florentino Perez swiftly rectified that gross discrepancy, reportedly tripling Vinicius' salary in October 2022.
Athletic Club's Inaki Williams is the highest-paid La Liga player who plies his trade for a club outside the division's unwavering top three, earning around €219,000 per week. Impressively, Real Sociedad managed to qualify for the Champions League despite employing just one player (David Silva) who earned more than €70,000 a week.
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This article was originally published on 90min as The highest wages in La Liga.
