Report: Cristiano Ronaldo Yearly Wage €31M; 4 Times More Than Any Serie A Star

A report from La Gazzetta dello Sport has stated Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo earns an annual salary of €31 million (£27.7 million)—more than four times that of any other player in the division. 

Per Football Italia, an investigation by Gazzetta into salaries in Serie A has been published, with detail provided on the amount earned by teams and individuals.

It's reported Juventus spend a whopping €294 million (£263 million) a year on player wages, with Inter Milan outlaying the second-most with €139 million (£124.3 million).

A large portion of the money paid by Juventus on salaries goes to Ronaldo following his move from Real Madrid in the summer of 2018. 

The club's new signing, Matthijs de Ligt, is the second-highest-paid player in the division, according to Gazzetta, with the Dutchman taking home a guaranteed €8 million (£7.2 million) in addition to €4 million (£3.6 million) in possible bonuses.

ACMvldini provided more information from the newspaper's investigation:

Inter Milan's new summer signing Romelu Lukaku is said to be third on the list of the league's highest earners, and he is set to pocket at least €7.5 million (£6.7 million) every year following his transfer from Manchester United.

Aside from the Belgium international, the remaining players in the top 11 are Juventus stars, with Gonzalo Higuain, Paulo Dybala, Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey taking up the spots between fourth and seventh, respectively.

In total, the 20 Serie A clubs are reported to be paying €1.36 billion (£1.22 billion) on salaries, which is the most in the history of the competition. 

It was reported by Forbes in April that the total wages paid in the Premier League last year was £2.9 billion.

Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic commented on the reason why a number of Italian clubs have been able to match spending done by some Premier League outfits on wages:

The following video from Tifo Football explains how the new tax regulations in Italy work:

It's no surprise to see Ronaldo is comfortably the top earner in the division. 

Despite being just 20 years old, De Ligt's huge pay packet isn't a shock either. It was reported that both Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain were interested in landing the Netherlands international from Ajax this summer, meaning Juve would have to pay a premium to fight off competition.

The money being spent by Juventus indicates how challenging it will be to break their dominance in Serie A for the likes of Napoli and Inter Milan. The Bianconeri have won the Italian title for the last eight seasons in succession.