Barça, the best paying club in Europe: the salaries behind the top 5 leagues

FC Barcelona is the European club that paid its players the most in 2019. This is revealed by a study carried out by 'Sports Intelligence', which publishes the average salaries per player in the five major European leagues.

Barcelona players have average salary of 11.09 million euros. A figure that obviously increases the contract of Leo Messi, who receives about 40 million (a figure that would rise above the 73 adding bonus and advertising contracts, according to 'Forbes').

Real Madrid, the second club in Europe that pays the most for its footballers, is not far behind. The team averages 10.60 and keeps the same position as the year before, while Atlético Madrid is eighth with 6,35.

According to the list of the 'top 10', the transformations in the European football are evident. After Barcelona and Real Madrid are Juventus (9.1), PSG (8.06), Manchester City (7.88), Bayern (7.32), Manchester United (6.91), Atletico (6.35), Liverpool (6.2) and Arsenal (5.39).

Serie A and Bundesliga, the fastest-growing championships

The global study of 'Sports Intelligence' talks about how the world of football is going through an economic bubble that has led to an evident inflation of prices and salaries. The figures show that in the five major leagues player salaries have increased.

Of these, Serie A and the Bundesliga have increased the most, by 17.5 per cent and 13.4 per cent respectively. La Liga (7.4%), the Premier League (6.1%) and Ligue 1 (4.9%) are behind.

The Premier League TV contract and Qatar's investment in Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are the top positions where Barcelona, Real Madrid or Juventus remain solid in an increasingly competitive ecosystem.

LaLiga: class struggle

In the detailed analysis, Spain shows how there are still important differences despite the current formula for distributing television rights, which established certain parameters that on the one hand improved income, but on the other maintained differences between classes.

Barça, Real Madrid and Atletico are at one end and then we see the jump to Valencia (2.91 million) and Seville (2.29), which lead a bourgeoisie that also contrasts with clubs like Eibar settled in Primera (739,000 euros) or Osasuna, which closes the table with 422,000.

Premier League: Qatar's investment and TV rights

If in Europe City is already the fourth best-paying team, in England it is obviously the leader. In fact, Manchester United pays on average around 700,000 euros less than its neighbours with an average of 7.13 million.

However, the Premier League's lucrative TV contract allows clubs like Crystal Palace, Southampton and Wolves, which are ranked 10th, 11th and 12th in the salary table, to pay averages of 3.36, 2.67 and 2.56 million respectively. This means that a club that fights for permanence like Southampton pays more to its footballers than Sevilla.

Serie A: Juve, above all

In Italy, Juventus pay an average of 9.1 million euros to their players. This is a huge difference from Roma and Inter, who are second and third, with averages of 4.05 and 3.67 million respectively.

As with Messi at Barça, Cristiano Ronaldo undoubtedly inflates a figure that still does not translate this year in Serie A, where he collides with Inter. Meanwhile, Brescia, with 523,000 euros, is the team that closes this classification.

Bundesliga: Bayern dominate - Leipzig appear

In Germany, RB Leipzig has emerged as the fourth-best payer with EUR 1.71 million behind Bayer Leverkusen (2.97 million) and Borussia Dortmund, which in itself represents a significant jump (4.48 million).

However, when you look at Bayern Munich, the gap is considered to be wider with an average salary of EUR 7.32 million. Not bad for the staff led by Hansi Flick.

Ligue 1: Khelaifi in power

The French championship is the slowest growing of the five major European leagues despite having a giant like Paris Saint-Germain among the continent's top payers. In fact, Al Khelaifi's club shows the difference between petrodollars and mortals.

PSG pay 8.06 million on average, while Nimes, last in the economic rankings, pay their players an average of 269,000 euros. An insulting chasm also exists between the Parisians and Monaco, second with its 2.59 million euros.