Lionel Messi Earns Almost £1m-A-WEEK; Becomes The World's Highest Paid Footballer

Mr money bags: Lionel Messi earned around £50m in 2014

According to UK Mirror, Lionel Messi is the highest paid player in the world after banking nearly £1million a week last year.

France Football’s annual survey of wages reckons the Barcelona star earns over £26m in his basic salary before bonuses.

And the Argentine earns almost double again in commercial deals with blue-chip sponsors like adidas, FIFA 15 and Turkish Airline to take his total annual income to £47.8m.

Cristiano Ronaldo is second with earnings on £39.7m with Neymar completing the top three of Spanish-based players on £26.8m.

The highest ranked player in the Premier League is Robin Van Persie in fifth place, who had a basic salary of £11.8m with bonuses of £5m.

No2: Cristiano Ronaldo is second to Messi in the financial stakes

Commercial revenue took his total earning to £18.8m. He is one place ahead of Gareth Bale (£17.5m) and two in front of Wayne Rooney (£16.5m).

Sergio Aguero (£15.5m) is also in the top ten with Eden Hazard and Yaya Toure both earning £14.7m.

Jose Mourinho is the highest paid coach in the world with his £10m Chelsea salary and £3.2m in commercial revenue.

Arsene Wenger (£8.3m) and Louis Van Gaal (£7.3m) are also in the top ten along with Zenit’s Andre Villas Boas (£6.25m) and David Moyes (£5.14m) now at Real Sociedad.