The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, more commonly known as La Liga, has some of the world’s highest-paid male soccer players. The three mentioned here are players for Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, the top two teams in the division, with Real Madrid beating Barcelona to the La Liga title in 2019-20.
With the transfer window still open until October, Real Madrid are looking at dozens of high-profile players to build another team capable of challenging for the Champions League, whilst FC Barcelona is doing all they can to keep Messi, considered the world’s best soccer player today.
1 Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
£1,224,000 per week
Lionel Messi was the highest-earning footballer last season and the best-paid footballer of all time. The odds for Messi can be found on nearly all betting websites when he is due to play. Yet, this season was only the second campaign in which the Argentinian ended without a trophy and that fact, combined with his frustration with the club management, has given rise to rumours that he might be looking to leave the club soon.
Messi has been heavily linked with an exit since the club’s 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. It is the third season in a row that Barcelona have exited the competition and Messi has played in just one final in the last nine years, despite being at his peak during that period. Ronald Koeman has promised to revamp the Barcelona squad following his appointment and has made keeping Messi a priority.
2 Luis Suarez (FC Barcelona)
£405,000 per week
FC Barcelona has the highest wage bill in La Liga and across all the world’s football leagues. It therefore comes as no surprise that second highest-paid player in La Liga is also a Barca player.
Born on 24 January 1987, Luis Suarez plays for Barcelona and the Uruguay national team. He earns £405,000 per week in a contract due to end in the summer of 2021. He joined the team in 2014 and would go on to become part of an astonishing goal record with Lionel Messi that became the envy of the world. However, the new Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has yet to make clear if Suarez is part of his future plans.
Whilst Suarez is close to the end of his career, he also scored 16 league goals for Barcelona last season, so could secure a reasonable transfer fee when sold, though not enough to take on a striker capable of immediately giving the club double-digit goals.
3 Eden Hazard (Real Madrid)
£400,000 per week
Born on 7 January 1999, Eden Hazard is a winger or attacking midfielder for Real Madrid and captains the Belgium national team. Hazard joined Real Madrid in 2019 after seven years at Chelsea, but his first season at Real Madrid ended with just one goal and seven assists, disappointing figures for a player who scored 21 times and assisted 17 with Chelsea in 2018/19. Injuries were a major part of his first season with just 16 appearances. It was not all bad luck, since he arrived at the club without being fully fit, which led to a muscle injury and weeks out of action. He was injured again on 26 November and was out for 67 days and injured again on 22 February. At 29 years of age and under contract until 2024, Hazard has plenty of time to prove he’s worth a massive £400,000 weekly wage, almost twice what he earned in his final season at Chelsea.
