Billionaire Eagles! Taiwo, Mikel, Others To Earn N73.9m Per Week
Many Nigerian professional footballers are swimming in billions of naira, investigations by SATURDAY PUNCH show.
Although David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo may be the first European stars to reach the billion-dollar mark because of their huge wages, endorsements, allowances and bonuses in their glittering careers, many Nigerians plying their trade in Europe will earn billions of naira in wages, bonuses and allowances as the new European league season gets under way this weekend.
In the 2011/2012 season, a few top Nigerian stars are expected to earn £295,724 a week, which is about N73,988,519.
Though the English Premier League is the most popular in Nigeria, some players are making it big in other top European leagues. In fact, the highest Nigerian earner plays outside England.
He is Taye Taiwo, who moved to AC Milan at the end of last season, ending his six-year stay with French club, Olympique Marseille.
In Milan, Taiwo will earn €335,000 a month (N73,169,729 per month, or N18,292,432 a week). The deal will run for three years, meaning that if his wages stay the way it is at the moment, Taiwo will earn N2,634,110,244 in wages (without 13 per cent tax) before negotiating a new contract or leaving Milan.
source: punchng.com
