The English Premier League kicked off on August 10th, and soccer fans all over the world are excited for a new season of long-standing rivalries, thrilling victories and crushing defeats. Part of what makes the Premier League so well-respected and so widely enjoyed is the sheer volume of soccer superstars that make up the league's 20 teams.
These high-profile and highly talented players don't come cheap. Each year, top footballers sign contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. Using weekly salary data from Spotrac, Business Insider identified the highest-paid soccer players during the 2017-2018 Premier League season. Here are the top five:
5. Romelu Lukaku
Pay: £250,000 weekly ($17.1 million annually)
Team: Manchester United
Position: Forward
Country: Belgium
Contract: Five-year deal worth £65.0 million ($84.8 million).
4. Kevin De Bruyne
Pay: £280,000 weekly ($19.1 million annually)
Team: Manchester City
Position: Midfielder
Country: Belgium
Contract: Five-year deal worth £72.8 million ($95 million).
3. Paul Pogba
Pay: £290,000 weekly ($19.8 million annually)
Team: Manchester United
Position: Midfielder
Country: France
Contract: Five-year deal worth £75.4 million ($98.4 million).
2. Mesut Özil
Pay: £306,250 weekly ($20.9 million annually)
Team: Arsenal
Position: Midfielder
Country: Germany
Contract: Four-year deal worth £63.7 million ($83.1 million).
1. Alexis Sanchez
Pay: £315,000 weekly ($21.5 million annually)
Team: Manchester United
Position: Forward
Country: Chile
Contract: Five-year deal worth £81.9 million ($106.9 million).
Manchester United employs three of the five highest-paid players in the Premier League: Alexis Sanchez, Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku. Sanchez (who is currently recovering from a groin injury but is expected to make a return in two weeks) topped Business Insider's list as the highest-paid player in the Premier League, with an estimated earnings of $21.5 million.
Second on the list is Arsenal midfielder Mesut Özil, who is believed to make $20.9 million annually. Özil is one of the most well-respected and expensive German players in history however, the midfielder announced last month that he would be retiring from the German national team citing "racism and disrespect."
Pogba brings in around $19.8 million a year playing for Manchester United, making him the third highest-paid player in the Premier League. He was also the highest paid player in the World Cup Final between France and Croatia.
Fourth on the list is Kevin De Bruyne, who helped lead the Belgian national team to a third-place finish in the 2018 World Cup. De Bruyne closely outearned his fellow Belgium teammate and Premier League rival Lukaku.
Today, Lukaku earns roughly $17.1 million a year, but the powerful striker says that he has always been motivated to achieve athletic and financial success because of his humble upbringing. "We were broke. Not just poor, but broke," he wrote in a post for The Players Tribune.
Lukaku shares how his family slept on the floor and went without electricity for weeks. "People in football love to talk about mental strength. Well, I'm the strongest dude you're ever going to meet," he writes. "Because I remember sitting in the dark with my brother and my mom, saying our prayers, and thinking, believing, knowing … it's going to happen."
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