Lionel Messi has retained his place at the top of Forbes’ list of highest-paid footballers after earning $126million over the past year, with Cristiano Ronaldo closely behind him in second.
The Barcelona superstar sent shock waves through world football last month when he told the club he has spent his entire career and that he wanted to leave after a trophy-less campaign in 2019-20.
Messi believed he could use a clause in his contract to leave for free, but Barca and LaLiga disputed that claim and insisted his deal could only be terminated should his €700m release clause be paid.
Amid frustration with the Camp Nou board, Messi performed a U-turn and elected to stay with the embattled LaLiga giants for at least the 2020-21 campaign.
He does so as the highest paid footballer in the world after earning $126million in salary and endorsements over the past 12 months.
His long-time rival, Ronaldo is second on the list after bringing in earnings of $117m.
Paris Saint-Germain stars, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, are third and fourth, respectively, with Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah in fifth place.
Making up the rest of the top 10 are French World Cup winners, Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann, Real Madrid outcast, Gareth Bale; Bayern Munich striker, Robert Lewandowski and Manchester United goalkeeper, David De Gea.
The Premier League remains the world’s richest domestic soccer league but only two of its outfield players feature in the top 10 of the wealth table — Liverpool’s title-winning striker, Mohamed Salah, in fifth spot ($37 million) and Manchester United’s midfielder, Paul Pogba ($34 million) in sixth. Pogba’s team mate, keeper David de Gea ($27 million) is 10th.
Messi, 33, is in the final year of his contract; so could leave for free next summer. By staying with the Catalan club, Messi is in line for an $83 million loyalty bonus, so it is likely he will continue to top the money charts.