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With exponential growth in the interest in football every year, it stands to reason that a concordant increase in sponsorship, television revenue, and ticket sales have been witnessed by the biggest clubs.
For context, the latest edition of the Deloitte Football Money League listing the top-earning football clubs in the world showed that the top five teams on the list made a combined total of $3.6 billion between them in the 2018/2019 season and this was over $300 million more than the total posted by the same group a season earlier.
With increased revenue comes increased spending and those who opined that the 'game was gone' when Trevor John Francis became the first British player to reach the £1 million transfer mark in 1979, would be appalled that players earn that much in a fortnight.
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Like in most fields, a lot of factors including experience, ability, and value are gauged before deciding on remuneration and football is no different. However, while some players justify their wages with sublime performances week-in week-out, others are just trudging along and stealing a living with their hefty paychecks.
Here, we shall be having a rundown of the top five most overpaid players in the world at the moment.
Also Read: 10 most valuable players in world football
#5 Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) - £350,000 per week
Arsenal became infamous under Arsene Wenger, with their penny-pinching antics in the transfer market believed to be the main reason why they were usurped from their previous place among the game's elite.
It, therefore, came as a major departure from their modus operandi when the club broke their club transfer record to sign Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid in the summer of 2013 and it was expected that the former German international would be the springboard to get the club back to the top.
In three years at the Bernabeu, Ozil had shone like a million stars, with his technique and a brilliant range of passing cementing his status as one of the premier playmakers in the world, while his on-field relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo was priceless to Los Blancos.
He initially brought this form with him to north London and was on course to break Thierry Henry's long-standing record for most assists in a single Premier League season in 2016 before a dip in form saw him miss out by two assists.
He signed a contract extension in 2018 that saw him become the highest-paid player in Premier League history but not much has been done since then to justify his huge wages.
A fallout with Unai Emery saw Ozil frozen out of the first team for much of the 2018/2019 season, leading to speculation he was on his way out but since his restoration to the starting lineup, he has been accused of nonchalance and is horribly out of form, with his return of six goals and three assists from his last 40 Premier League matches laying credence to this.
Also Read: Most expensive players by age featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Virgil van Dijk, and Paul Pogba
#4 Tanguy Ndombele (Tottenham) - £200,000 per week
Tanguy Ndombele was made Tottenham Hotspur's record signing when he was purchased for the sum of £62.8m from Lyon last summer.
The 22-year-old had starred for Les Gones for two seasons in Ligue 1 and emerged as one of the most sought-after players in the market before Spurs won the race for his signature.
Coupled with his mega-money arrival, the Lilywhites also made him the joint highest-paid player at the club, earning the same amount as star striker Harry Kane, which was surprising considering that established first-teamers like Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli earned less than half of that.
Despite his significant wage, Ndombele has not made a significant mark at the north London club, with injuries and distrust from Jose Mourinho limiting his impact.
So far, he has weighed in with two goals and two assists from 24 matches in all competitions, while he also finds himself behind Harry Winks, Giovani Lo Celso, and new signing Steven Bergwijn in the midfield hierarchy and was recently called out by Mourinho over his fitness problems.
#3 Paul Pogba (Manchester United) - £290,000 per week
Four years ago, Manchester United broke the bank to sign Paul Pogba from Juventus for a world-record fee and he, alongside fellow new arrival Zlatan Ibrahimovic as well as Jose Mourinho, was supposed to take the club back to the summit of the English game.
Whereas the other two have since departed Old Trafford, Pogba still remains but it has not been for want of trying, with the French international deploying several antics including a come-get-me plea to Real Madrid last summer to end his Premier League sojourn.
On his day, the 26-year-old is virtually unplayable and is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world but Pogba's time at Manchester United has been plagued by inconsistencies and questionable loyalty, while his cause has not been helped by recent fitness issues.
This season, he has played just seven Premier League games and with just one year left on his contract, it might be in the club's best interests to count their losses and let him go in the summer.
#2 Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona) - £250,000 per week
Ousmane Dembele had huge shoes to fill when he was signed as the direct replacement for the departing Neymar and despite being bought for a club-record fee and impressing with Borussia Dortmund, the former Rennes man had his work cut out at Camp Nou.
His cause was hardly helped by a long-term injury sustained barely a month into his Barcelona career and this was to be the first of a series of serious injuries that has seen the World Cup winner spend more time in the treatment room than on the field.
In his defence, in the few instances when he has been fit, Ousmane Dembele has blossomed but for a player who earns the humongous sum of £250,000 every week to have missed over 60 matches in just three years is rather disappointing.
Having recently returned from an injury, the 22-year-old has now been ruled out for the rest of the season, prompting the emergency signing of Martin Braithwaite from relegation-threatened Leganes but rather jarringly, nobody was surprised at Dembele's latest injury woes.
#1 Alexis Sanchez (Inter Milan on loan from Manchester United) - £400,000 per week
There were wild scenes of jubilation across social media when Manchester United pipped city rivals Manchester City to the signing of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal on deadline day in January 2018. However, two years on and any optimism generated from the Chilean's arrival has since dissipated.
He had been part of a player exchange that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan go the other way and in hindsight, a case can be made to consider this the worst player swap in history.
A crucial factor that tipped the scale in the favour of the Red Devils over their neighbours was them making Sanchez the highest paid player in the league, with his weekly wages of £400,000 significantly more than anybody else in the squad.
His output on the field did not reflect his high earnings off it and Sanchez' return of just five goals from 45 matches in 18 months was a far cry from the forward who tore opposition defences to shreds at Arsenal.
A loan deal was completed to Inter Milan over the summer but the Mancunians are still offsetting 3/4 of his salary, while Inter pay the remaining £100,000 but eight months into his spell at San Siro, nether side has really profited from the resources expended on him.
