Putting the ball in the back of the net is often described as the most difficult job in football, and perhaps for that reason, strikers have tended to be the best paid players in the game. Right now, there are just under forty centre-forwards earning £100,000 a week or more.
Here are our 7 best paid centre-forwards in world football
7. Robert Lewandowski – £273,000 a Week
In at seventh is the man many people consider to be the finest out-and-out centre-forward in the world right now. Just keeping the likes of Gonzalo Higuain and Graziano Pelle out of this seven, Robert Lewandowski supposedly earns the best part of 300 grand a week. The dead-eyed Polish hitman signed his most recent deal in December 2016, and it still has three years left to run. Lewandowski joined Bayern from Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer in 2014, and he has since scored 151 goals in 195 games for the Bavarian giants.
6. Karim Benzema – £284,000 a Week
Karim Benzema of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring his sides first goal during the UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Liverpool at NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium on May 26,…
We have defended Karim Benzema in the past, and think he comes in for someone undue criticism, but it is a bit crazy that he out-earns Robert Lewandowski. Benzema is a technically gifted grafter who works hard and provides as many goals as he dispatches these days. The 30-year-old Frenchman has been at Real Madrid since 2009, where he has won sixteen trophies, including four Champions Leagues. Benzema is the joint fourth highest scorer in Champions League history, tied with Ruud van Nistelrooy and ahead of the likes of Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Andriy Shevchenko.
5. Kylian Mbappe – £308,000 a Week
Now the best paid teenager in world footballer, the brilliant young Frenchman is a rare talent and has the potential to become an all time great. Quick, clever, brilliant on the ball and composed in front of goal, there’s no reason why Mbappe shouldn’t be playing at the highest level for the next decade and then some. He scored 21 goals in 44 games in his first season at PSG, and there’s a good chance he’ll start for France at the World Cup.
4. Edinson Cavani – £316,000 a Week
TOPSHOT – Paris Saint-Germain’s Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani celebrates at the end of the French Cup final football match between Les Herbiers and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), on May 8,…
The second consecutive PSG man in this seven is Edinson Cavani, who has been with the Parisians since 2013. Powerful and prolific, the 31-year-old Uruguayan is the club’s all time leading scorer, and he still has a couple of years left on his current deal.
3. Antoine Griezmann – £368,000 a Week
Between them, Atletico Madrid duo Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa earn well in excess of half a million pounds a week. The La Liga side had to offer their French star some serious cash to sign a new deal last summer, which he duly did, one which would run until 2022. However, after an impressive second half of the season in the Spanish capital, Griezmann is being linked with a move away once again. For now though, he’s third on £368,000 a week.
2. Luis Suarez – £401,000 a Week
Luis Suarez of FC Barcelona reacts during the La Liga match between Levante UD and FC Barcelona at Estadi Ciutat de Valencia on May 13, 2018 in Valencia, Spain.
Luis Suarez unsurprisingly became one of the best paid players in world football when he joined Barcelona after a sensational season at Liverpool in 2014. The Uruguayan extended his deal at the Camp Nou in December 2016, meaning his current deal will run until 2021. Now aged 31, Suarez has scored 152 goals in 198 games for Barcelona in total, and 31 goals in 51 games last season.
1. Lionel Messi – £686,000 a Week
The best paid centre-forward, and indeed the best paid player in world football, is Lionel Messi. There were some twitchy feet in Catalonia last summer as Messi entered the final year of his contract, but he ultimately signed a new four-year deal at the club which will keep him at Barcelona until 2021 at least. The little Argentine genius recently stated that he doesn’t see himself ever playing for another European club, so if he were to leave Barcelona, it would most likely be for Newell’s Old Boys right at the end of his career.
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