As part of their yearly breakdown of Ligue 1’s highest earners, L’Équipe have taken a look at Marseille’s wage bill, which has increased considerably this past year after several seasons of relative austerity put in place by owner Frank McCourt.
Notably, former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Alexis Sánchez, who joined on a free transfer from Inter this summer, earns half a million euros per month. The 34-year-old is second in the list to midfielder Jordan Veretout, who also made from move across the Alps last year, arriving from Roma, and earns €550,000 per month.
L’Équipe point out that Marseille’s wage bill spending has now hit record levels and includes Champions League bonuses, on top of signing-on fees. Although the very highest earners may be just short of what the likes of Mario Balotelli and Luiz Gustavo were earning a few years ago, the average salary across the board has increased. They add that president Pablo Longoria has opted to give shorter deals to the more experienced players who come in – the Chilean is on a one-year contract, for instance – and is more generous with agent fees. This new, spendthrift Marseille set-up is notably backed up by Champions League earnings, the CVC investment into the league, and, as L’Équipe add, post-Covid state grants.
GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin
