The World Is a Ball: Mbappé passes Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and is the highest paid footballer in the world

World champion with France in 2018, when he was just 19 years old, Kylian Mbappé, after four years, has become the highest paid football player on the planet.

The Paris Saint-Germain star will accumulate in the 2022/2023 season, according to a calculation by Forbes, a renowned economics magazine, US$ 128 million (R$ 666.3 million) gross, a value that will surpass the earnings of both Lionel Messi and by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Since 2014, either the Argentine or the Portuguese, the main stars of the first quarter of this century, has been at the top of the Forbes list, which considers the sum of salaries, sponsors and off-field business.

Messi, 35, who shares the PSG spotlight with Mbappé and Neymar, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, currently in Manchester United’s reserve, will earn, respectively, US$ 120 million (R$ 624.7 million) and US$ 100. million (R$ 520.6 million) in the current season.

There is a very evident difference when comparing the earnings of Mbappé, top scorer in the last four editions of the French Championship, with those of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The new number 1 on the American magazine’s list will receive almost all of the money in salaries ($110 million), with the rest ($18 million) in commercial deals, such as those with Nike (sports goods), Hublot ( watches), Dior (fashion) and EA Sports (games), and other businesses and investments – the athlete owns a film and TV production company, Zebra Valley.

The number 10 of the Argentine national team has a balanced income (US$ 65 million in salaries, US$ 55 million in sponsorships, marketing actions and the like), and the number 7 of the Portuguese national team has most of his income (60% ) from sponsors and sources other than salary.

Neymar, called Neymar Jr. by most foreign publications (he himself likes to have “Junior” next to his name), he appears in the fourth position in the Forbes ranking of the best paid footballers.

That’s US$ 87 million, with US$ 55 million in salaries. In the magazine’s previous list, referring to 2021/2022, the Brazilian occupied third place, behind Cristiano Ronaldo (1st) and Messi (2nd) and ahead of Mbappé (4th).

So that the reader can get an idea of ​​what the amount of US$ 128 million pocketed by Mbappé means, this amount is equivalent to more than triple what FIFA will pay to this year’s World Cup champion in Qatar (US$ 42 million ).

Forbes’ top ten is completed by Egyptian Mohamed Salah, Norwegian sensation Erling Haaland, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, Belgian Eden Hazard (Vinicius Jr. 2010, at the end of his career in Japanese football) and by the Belgian Kevin de Bruyne.

Below is a breakdown of the top ten, with club, position, age and gross earnings (excluding taxes) for the season.

1. Mbappé (France) – PSG forward, 23, $128 million ($110 million in salaries/$18 million in sponsorships and other funding)
2. Messi (Argentina) – PSG, forward, 35 years old, $120 million (65/55)
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – Manchester United, forward, 37 years old, $120 million (40/60)
4. Neymar (Brazil) – PSG, forward, 30 years old, $87 million (55/32)
5. Salah (Egypt) – Liverpool, forward, 30, $53 million (35/18)
6. Haaland (Norway) – Manchester City, forward, 22, $39 million (4/35)
7. Lewandowski (Poland) – Barcelona, ​​striker, 34, $35 million (27/8)
8. Hazard (Belgium) – Real Madrid, forward, 31, $31 million (27/4)
9. Iniesta (Spain) – Vissel Kobe, midfielder, 38, $30 million (5/25)
10. De Bruyne (Belgium) – Manchester City, midfielder, 31, $29 million (25/4)

Haaland and De Bruyne are new to the rankings. The previous one featured Frenchman Paul Pogba, who left Manchester United for Juventus and has had constant injury problems, and Welshman Gareth Bale, ex-Real Madrid, currently in US football (Los Angeles FC).