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Football is one of the most lucrative sports on the planet. Football players all over the world get paid enormous amounts of money and become global superstars.
Money and success often go hand in hand, but this success comes at a price as well. Players sometimes get carried away by fame and money and end up in situations that turn out to be disasters.
This is why clubs all over the globe have strict measures in place to try to keep their players in check. Among things like suspension, being left out of the squad and more, fines have been a key tool used by the clubs in such situations.
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With mind-boggling wages, footballers also have to be ready to face massive fines. There have been several instances where players have stepped out of line and been swiftly punished.
On that note, let's now take a look at five footballers who have received the biggest fines:
#5 Romelu Lukaku: £325,000
Romelu Lukaku made his return to the Premier League at the start of the 2021-22 season, signing for Chelsea from Inter Milan. The Blues paid a club-record £97.5m fee for the Belgian striker.
Lukaku infamously gave an interview to Sky Sports Italia in December, in which he expressed his frustration with the Blues. He claimed he was unhappy with the system manager Thomas Tuchel used. He also mentioned his desire to return to Inter Milan in the future.
After this media fiasco, Chelsea handed Lukaku a hefty £325,000 fine. The interview angered Tuchel, who proceeded to exclude the striker from their 2-2 draw against Liverpool. Lukaku soon issued an apology and promised to give his full commitment to Chelsea.
He was then brought back into the squad but he has been quite poor on the pitch.
Lukaku scored three goals in his first three games with Chelsea but has been relatively poor since then. He currently has five goals in 16 league appearances.
#4 Mario Balotelli: £340,000
Mario Balotelli is no stranger to controversy. The former Inter, Manchester City and Liverpool forward has had his fair share of disciplinary issues over the years that have earned him a bad reputation.
Balotelli was fined £340,000 for breaching Manchester City’s code of conduct in 2012. City punished the striker for missing training sessions and partying on the same day he was supposed to play.
Balotelli was initially irked by the fine and was about to appeal to a Premier League tribunal. However, fearing media backlash and the risk of losing his spot in the first team, the appeal was shortly withdrawn.
Apart from disciplinary issues off the pitch, Balotelli was hot-headed on the pitch as well. He accumulated quite a lot of cards and missed close to 20 percent of his team's games.
Balotelli currently plays for Adana Demirspor in the Turkish League. He was also recently included in the Italian national team by manager Roberto Mancini after a long absence.
#3 Arda Turan: £350,000
Arda Turan is one of the finest playmakers Turkey has produced in recent times. Turan was at his peak with Atletico Madrid and helped them win the La Liga title in the 2013-14 season. He was signed in the following season by Barcelona for a fee close to £30 million.
Turan joined Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir in 2018 and it was here that things turned ugly. Turan was found guilty of assaulting Turkish popstar Berkay Sahin in October 2018. Turan allegedly got into a brawl with the singer that left the latter hospitalized. The story doesn’t end there, however. Turan later arrived at the hospital where Sahin was being treated and fired a gun at the ground to threaten the singer.
Istanbul Basaksehir took strict action against the Turk and fined him £350,000 over the incident. He was also given a suspended jail sentence. Turan accepted the punishment, but couldn’t save his reputation which took a massive hit after this episode.
#2 Harry Kane: £400,000
Seeing Harry Kane’s name mentioned on this list will undoubtedly raise a few eyebrows. The Tottenham Hotspur star-man is known for his professionalism on and off the pitch, and rarely gets involved in controversies.
Nevertheless, Kane made headlines for the wrong reasons in August 2021. The Englishman was set to return to Spurs’ regular training after a commendable performance with his national side at the Euros. However, Kane did not report to the training facility and made it clear he wanted to leave the club.
Kane was fined two weeks' wages, which amount to £400,000 after this debacle. The England captain reportedly wanted to win silverware and play regular Champions League football. Manchester City did offer £100 million for Kane, but Spurs valued the striker at £150 million. Kane has since cleared the air and promised his full commitment and loyalty to Tottenham.
#1 Carlos Tevez: £400,000
Only a handful of players have played for both Manchester United and Manchester City, and Carlos Tevez is one of them. Tevez has won two Premier League titles with United and one with City. The 38-year-old scored 73 goals for City, more than any other club he’s played for. However, the Argentine’s time with Man City was filled with controversy.
City faced Bayern Munich in the Champions League in September 2011. They were trailing by two goals, and Tevez allegedly refused to come on as a substitute. Tevez claimed it was a misunderstanding but faced charges nonetheless. Manager Roberto Mancini was furious with his striker and declared that Tevez “was finished”.
The Argentine was initially fined four weeks’ wages that were later reduced by half and amounted to £400,000. Apart from the infamous incident in Munich, Tevez also had cases of misconduct in training. It is reported that Tevez lost close to £9 million in total due to multiple fines and lost bonuses.
