Paris Saint-Germain: Weekly wages of first-team stars revealed
Founded in 1970, Paris Saint-Germain initially struggled to become a powerhouse, gaining promotion to Ligue 1 only in 1974, managing to win only two Ligue 1 titles in a 42-year time period, until the club witnessed quite a transformation in 2011 which spearheaded an extreme change in fortunes for the club.
In all honesty, though, the real change began at the turn of the century as the club successfully lured iconic players such as Ronaldinho, Jay-Jay Okocha, Nicolas Anelka and Pauleta among others.
In 2011, the club was taken over by Oryx Qatar Sports Investments (QSi) and Nasser Al-Khelaifi was installed as the new club president.
The takeover was heralded by the arrival of super-swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who subsequently became the club's leading goalscorer of all-time, leading PSG to 4 Ligue 1 titles in as many years, before departing for Manchester United ahead of the 2016-17 season.
Since 2011, Paris Saint-Germain have won 5 league titles, 3 Coupe de France titles, 5 Coupe de la Ligue titles, as well as 5 Trophée des Champions trophies, thus becoming a European superpower.
Notably, PSG has also become a financial giant with their new owners pumping in plenty of money in recent years in order to recruit some of the top talents across the footballing world.
Over the last 7 seasons, since 2011, Paris Saint-Germain have spent a whopping sum of €935.05 million (excluding the exorbitant transfer fee of £166 million (€188 million) that they are set to pay Monaco for the permanent transfer of Kylian Mbappe in the coming summer), with €222 million being spent on Neymar, alone, last summer.
Flexing their financial muscles, PSG have undeniably become one of the biggest clubs in the world, with their net worth standing at a staggering figure of $841 million. Further, the club reportedly generates an annual revenue of €520.9 million.
Naturally, big money deals may successfully attract top players. However, to retain them, Paris Saint-Germain have also had to invest heavily in player wages.
When top players play for a top club that isn't stingy with their wealth, it's only fair to expect that they are paid well to do so.
On that note, here is a look at the weekly wages of 20 first-team Paris Saint-Germain stars:
#20 Presnel Kimpembe (Defender) - €10,000/week
Contracted until: 30/06/2021
A product of the club's youth academy, Presnel Kimpembe has been at the club since the tender age of 10, before breaking into the senior team in 2014 when he made his Ligue 1 debut against RC Lens.
Over the past couple of seasons, Kimpembe has started to feature a lot more regularly for the side and has now made a total of 70 appearances across all competitions. Aged just 22, he could certainly become a club superstar in the future.
Solid, isn't he?
#19 Alphonse Aréola (Goalkeeper) - €40,000/week
Contracted until: 30/06/2019
Another product of the club's youth academy, Alphonse Areola made his senior debut in 2013, at the age of 20, when he replaced the first-choice goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu in a Ligue 1 match.
He was then sent on back-to-back loan spells to Lens, Bastia and Villarreal, before returning to Paris in 2016 as second-choice to Kevin Trapp, before eventually becoming the first-choice shot-stopper this season.
Since his return, Areola has made 68 appearances across all competitions and looks capable enough to permanently occupy the slot between the sticks for the next few years to come.
Safe as a house.