Bayern Munich are currently pushing to sign Liverpool forward Luis Diaz and you’d be surprised to learn just how much the Colombian star earns, in comparison to his fellow pros.
It’s believed that Diaz is earning somewhere in the region of £55,000 a week on the deal that he signed when he arrived from Porto. Obviously that’s a massive amount of money, but in a wider context, it wouldn’t put him in the Premier League’s top 200 earners.
If true, it would take Diaz just over two months to take home what top earner Erling Haaland does in a week, while it’s believed that his Reds team-mate Mohamed Salah earns almost seven times more in wages. We’ve identified eight players we can’t believe earn more in wages than the regular Liverpool starter.
**Vitaliy Mykolenko**
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We don’t mean any disrespect to Mykolenko.
The Ukrainian has had his critics amid Everton’s sorry start to the 2024-25 campaign but he’s by and large been a solid addition at Goodison Park, particularly defensively.
Yet we find it pretty confusing that a not-especially-glamorous full-back at cash-strapped crisis club Everton, who arrived on Merseyside the same month Diaz did, takes home marginally more than a superstar forward, signed for a big-money fee, that regularly starts for a side challenging at the top end of the table.
It’s believed that Mykolenko’s wages are in the region of £58,000 a week.
**Jakub Kiwior**
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The Polish defender was signed by Arsenal from Serie A strugglers Spezia in January 2013.
He’s a functional enough squad player for Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, but he’s made a grand total of 26 Premier League starts during his time in English football.
Get us Swiss Ramble on the phone. We need someone to talk us through the mechanisms of how exactly he’s thought to be banking £58,000 a week.
**Tyler Adams**
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The USA captain has made 21 Premier League starts since moving from Leeds to Bournemouth in 2023.
A transfer fee of £20million alongside his reported £60,000-a-week salary is eye-watering if you think about it on a per-minute basis.
Still, there’s a decent player there and if he can put his injury woes behind him he might yet prove good value for Andoni Iraola’s Cherries.
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**TRY A QUIZ: [Can you name every South American to play for Liverpool in the PL?](https://www.planetfootball.com/quizzes/can-you-name-every-south-american-play-liverpool-premier-league)
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**Kostas Tsimikas**
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This isn’t even a criticism of Liverpool’s spending practices, or of Tsimikas himself. He’s as perfectly decent a back-up left-back as you’ll find in the Premier League.
Yet we’re left scratching our heads at how a back-up left-back is on higher wages (£75,000, apparently) than one of Arne Slot’s go-to attackers.
Diaz’s agent isn’t going need to be a master negotiator to make the case that his client ought to be earning considerably more than Tsimikas.
**Benoit Badiashile**
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You’ll get some strange characters in the dark corners of Twitter arguing that the way Todd Boehly has run Chelsea over the past couple of years makes any degree of sense.
They’ve turned themselves into top-four challengers once again and recently lifted the FIFA Club World Cup, but that’s on the back of some enormous spending in recent seasons.
Of the crazy contracts that they’ve handed out in recent years, Badiashile’s is one of the most bonkers. He’s thought to be on £90,000 a week and has got that pay packet locked down until 2030(!).
**Matt Targett**
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Newcastle kept things fairly sensible during the early days of their Saudi takeover. There were no daft glamour signings.
The likes of Bruno Guimaraes and Kieran Trippier made an instant impact when they were signed midway through the 2021-22 campaign, steering them to safety, while even Matt Targett was an unsexy but Premier League-proven defender that had his uses.
After an initially successful loan from Aston Villa, Newcastle bought Targett on a permanent deal in the summer of 2022. He signed a four-year deal and is believed to be on wages of £100,000 a week.
That’s almost twice as much in wages as Diaz on a bloke that’s made a grand total of seven Premier League starts since signing permanently. We need a lie down.
Patrick Bamford
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Having been promoted back to the Premier League, Bamford’s wages have seemingly been restored to £70,000 per week.
The entire Leeds squad reportedly took a 50% paycut after being relegated in 2022-23, but their wages will have been bumped up again after promotion.
In the case of Bamford, it seems pretty mental that he’s now earning £70,000 per week, considering he didn’t start a single game in the Championship last season.
Even more baffling is the fact that he’s earning more than Diaz, who played an instrumental role in winning the Premier League last season.