Top 5 overpaid players in the world right now
With exponential growth in the interest in football every year, it stands to reason that a concordant increase in sponsorship, television revenue, and ticket sales have been witnessed by the biggest clubs.
For context, the latest edition of the Deloitte Football Money League listing the top-earning football clubs in the world showed that the top five teams on the list made a combined total of $3.6 billion between them in the 2018/2019 season and this was over $300 million more than the total posted by the same group a season earlier.
With increased revenue comes increased spending and those who opined that the 'game was gone' when Trevor John Francis became the first British player to reach the £1 million transfer mark in 1979, would be appalled that players earn that much in a fortnight.
Like in most fields, a lot of factors including experience, ability, and value are gauged before deciding on remuneration and football is no different. However, while some players justify their wages with sublime performances week-in week-out, others are just trudging along and stealing a living with their hefty paychecks.
Here, we shall be having a rundown of the top five most overpaid players in the world at the moment.
Also Read: 10 most valuable players in world football
#5 Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) - £350,000 per week
Arsenal became infamous under Arsene Wenger, with their penny-pinching antics in the transfer market believed to be the main reason why they were usurped from their previous place among the game's elite.
It, therefore, came as a major departure from their modus operandi when the club broke their club transfer record to sign Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid in the summer of 2013 and it was expected that the former German international would be the springboard to get the club back to the top.
In three years at the Bernabeu, Ozil had shone like a million stars, with his technique and a brilliant range of passing cementing his status as one of the premier playmakers in the world, while his on-field relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo was priceless to Los Blancos.
He initially brought this form with him to north London and was on course to break Thierry Henry's long-standing record for most assists in a single Premier League season in 2016 before a dip in form saw him miss out by two assists.
He signed a contract extension in 2018 that saw him become the highest-paid player in Premier League history but not much has been done since then to justify his huge wages.
A fallout with Unai Emery saw Ozil frozen out of the first team for much of the 2018/2019 season, leading to speculation he was on his way out but since his restoration to the starting lineup, he has been accused of nonchalance and is horribly out of form, with his return of six goals and three assists from his last 40 Premier League matches laying credence to this.
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