Top 10 football clubs with highest wage bills

#2 Barcelona: €378m (£333.98m)

Messi is comfortably Barcelona's best player and unsurprisingly leads the way in terms of player wages

Highest earner: Lionel Messi, £500kpw

Given their standing as one of the world's best, it's surprising to know they currently lack the funds needed to bolster a much-needed revamp. Questionable incomings haven't helped in recent seasons with Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho both struggling for consistency.

Messi and Luis Suarez aside, the remainder of their first-team are mostly on modest wages. They still can sign players but definitely need to sell and have already begun targeting younger, cheaper alternatives to star-studded players that have previously burned their finances without reward.

#1 Real Madrid: €406m (£358.72m)

Gareth Bale finds himself currently in a contract standoff as Zinedine Zidane doesn't want to keep him

Highest earner: Gareth Bale, £600kpw

In the post-Ronaldo era, they are gradually beginning to get value for money. There is plenty of quality within the squad that can still be sold as surplus to requirements, which allows them more freedom to spend.

Ultimately, they are aiming for a quick turnaround after recent disappointment and don't need to sell to sign - as evidenced by their £270m transfer dealings this summer already on players including Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic and Ferland Mendy. However, with Bale being frozen out of the squad and the club's highest-paid player facing an uncertain future, it reiterates that they still have expensive mistakes of the past to resolve.