ISL 2017: Top 5 earners in the history of the competition
The Indian Super League has seen its fair share of top footballing players plying their trade in the country. But the clubs have had to delve deep into their pockets as these superstars of the game did not come cheap. Ahead of the upcoming ISL season, teams have loosened their purses yet again to and a few of them have brought on board global stars like Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane.
Though the Indian players do not earn close to their foreign counterparts, this season has seen their stocks rise by over 100%. But ruling the rooster as always have been the foreigners in the league. Let us take a look at the five highest earning players of all time in the history of the Indian Super League:
#5 Nicolas Anelka (Mumbai City)
The journeyman arrived in India for the inaugural season for the Indian Super League in 2014. He was Mumbai City's marquee signing and was paid a huge sum of ?5.4 crores for just over two months of footballing action.
He then became the club's player cum manager in the following season but earned not more than ?4 crores in 2015. Anelka could not bring his A-game to the country and largely underperformed both as a player as well as a manager. However, his arrival created quite a buzz in the league.