The 20 Highest Paid Players in France
By: Inara | April 19th, 2007Technically, this is Sam’s territory, but I couldn’t help bringing this up since eleven of the top twenty are at Lyon.
Some of them definitely have the “wtf factor” associated with them. Obviously, these numbers are puny when compared with La Liga, Serie A, and especially, the EPL, but Ligue 1 isn’t exactly flowing in cash, especially with France’s stifling taxes. According to France Football:
1 – Djibril Cissé 4.8 ME
2 – Pedro Pauleta 4.6 ME
3 – Juninho Pernambucano 4.55 ME
4 – Sidney Govou 4.5 ME
5 – Sylvain Wiltord 4.45 ME
6 – Franck Ribéry 4.4 ME
7 – Tiago Mendes 3.8 ME
8 – Florent Malouda 3.6ME
9 – Fred Chaves Guedes 3.5 ME
10 – Gregory Coupet 3.45 ME
11 – Mario Yepes 3.4 ME
12 – Milan Baros 2.8 ME
13 – Cris Marques Gomes 2.65 ME
14 – Gerald Cid 2.6 ME
15 – Sebastian Squillaci 2.5 ME
16 – Johan Micoud 2.44 ME
17 – Lucas Bernardi 2.4 ME
18 – Bonaventure Kalou 2.35 ME
19 – Eric Abidal 2.3 ME
20 – Gael Givet 2.2 ME
I’m not sure if these numbers are pre-tax or not, and I don’t know if this includes any additional income from sponsorships and such.
But am I the only one who sees something inherently wrong with this table? Like the fact that Cisse is the highest paid player, and he’s on loan from the EPL? Or the fact that Juninho earns only marginally more than Sidney “I never score” Govou?
Govou as Lyon’s second highest paid player? What the hell is wrong with OL’s salary structure that France’s number 1 gets paid a million less than Govou, who isn’t guaranteed to start at either Lyon or with the NT? Govou, who is more often nonexistent than brilliant. Govou, who threatens to leave the club every May but ends up staying because no other clubs want him. Govou, who is often a waste of space on the right wing. Govou…I could go on and on.
About the others…I had no idea that Tiago earned that much money. Granted, it’s nothing like in the EPL, in fact, he took a pay cut to come to Lyon, but for Ligue 1’s standards, that’s more than I expected. Same for Fred – that’s a lot for a striker that has yet to show us his true potential.
So that makes me wonder, how does Aulas come up with these salaries? How is Squillaci earning more than Abidal? Abidal has been at Lyon for three years, Squillaci just got here. Abidal is a French NT starter, one of the best LBs in Europe. Squillaci is not at that level yet.
The injustice of it all! No wonder Abidal wants to leave.
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Tags: Florent Malouda, Juninho, Ligue 1, People, Player News and Rumors, Salaries, Team News and RumorsSubscribe
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Comments
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now now now, Govou is not that bad Inara. He definately has not been as consistent as in previous years, but thats a little to much bad mouthing for him. Anyways, Abidal makes very little because his contract was not restructured from when he transfered from Lille, and this is the main reason he has reason to leave Lyon, other then playing in Spain or Italy. Tiago is the exact opposite of Abidal, although he took a paycut he still had a high salary at Chelsea and Lyon could not cut it to much in order for him to move. What I dont like is Baros being paid that much, he is balls. Coupet should be payed more then everyone except Juninho, but that wont happen.
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Govou does have his good points…but he still doesn’t justify that high a salary compared to other players. For a winger who doesn’t even feature all the time, that’s a bit much, IMO.
I think for Baros, it might have been the same case as with Tiago. They both got paid more in the EPL, so Aulas had to offer something similar if not as much.
As for Abidal – I don’t know what’s going on with that. I know he did sign an extension at some point between his arrival from Lille and right now (maybe two years ago?), so he should at least be in Cris range.
I’m pretty sure Cris will be getting a pay raise something soon. He’s a highly coveted player who is so far staying at Lyon because he likes it there.
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Abidal has never renewed his contract. Signing an extension wouldn’t have helped him break free from Lyon.
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Uhhhh… what the hell is Gerald Cid doing there? It took me two seconds to remember who he was. That’s awful weird.
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My guess is that Bolton are funding his wages.
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You know, the funny thing is that the only reason Pauleta gets paid so much was because Lyon drove up his price when they tried to buy him last year. PSG had no choice but to offer a higher salary to keep Pauleta.
PSG was really really pissed over that.
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Strange, i didnt notice Gerald Cid on the list. He is a perfect example of over payed, does he even play for Bordeuax still? As for Abidal, I believe he may have signed an extension because his original deal was for 3 years or 4. If not, then it would make sense why he is paid so little, but then again he has not been at his best this year for some reason.
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[...] numbers from France and want to compare salaries, last year France Football published the wages of 20 highest earning players in Ligue 1. This list was published last season, so some salaries have been adjusted since then. [...]
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[...] year, 13 of the 20 highest paid footballers in Ligue 1 are from Lyon. Last year, there were only 11. Which is strange because I could swear Aulas wanted to bring down Lyon’s payroll. Of course, [...]
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