Real Madrid wages: Top 10 highest-paid players on football’s biggest wage bill

Real Madrid currently have the highest wage bill in world football, pipping Bayern Munich and cash-rich Premier League side Manchester City to the summit.

It’s little surprise that they pay more than all of their competitors, with some of world football’s very biggest names on their books.

Here, we have looked at the top 10 highest earners at Real Madrid.

Note, the values listed in pounds are conversions at the time of writing, rounded to the nearest thousand per week, and are subject to change.

1. Kylian Mbappe

• Weekly salary: €600,962 (£518,000)
• Annual salary: €31.25m (£26.9m)
• On contract until: 2029

One of the best-paid players on the planet, Real Madrid’s top earner is, of course, Kylian Mbappe.

It wasn’t exactly a well-kept secret that Mbappe was going to end up at Madrid after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain ended, but it was a monumental move nonetheless.

In their efforts to keep Mbappe for as long as possible, PSG were paying him more than €1m per week, but his heart was set on a switch to Madrid.

Real pay him a lower base salary, but he also receives lucrative bonuses, which, if all active, would put €1,378,269 per week in his pockets.

Only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland earns a higher base salary in European football, but Mbappe’s full package when bonuses are brought in is bigger.

Mbappe enjoyed a strong individual debut season, scoring 44 goals from 59 games.

2. David Alaba 

• Weekly salary: €432,692 (£373,000)
• Annual salary: €22.5m (£19.4m)
• On contract until: 2026

After running down his contract at Bayern Munich, where he was earning €192,308 per week, Alaba earned himself a lucrative deal with Madrid in 2021.

With 10 Bundesliga titles behind him, the versatile left-footed defender agreed a four-year deal for his first taste of Spanish football.

At the time, there were five players being paid more by Madrid, but Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, Marcelo, Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard have all since left the club.

Alaba’s contract is worth more than €430,000 per week, but it is due to expire at the end of the season. His injury history makes for an uncertain future.

=3. Jude Bellingham

• Weekly salary: €400,577 (£345,000)
• Annual salary: €20.83m (£18m)
• On contract until: 2029

Bellingham’s journey to becoming one of the highest-paid players at Real Madrid is a very interesting one.

His first ever contract in football, with Birmingham City, saw him paid around €2,000 per week, and he only played one season of senior football there prior to a move to Borussia Dortmund.

There, he earned around €62,000 per week, and even now, the German outfit don’t pay anybody more than €200,000, so he was never likely to make the sort of massive sum he now does at Real.

Now seen as one of the very best talents in world football, Bellingham is earning north of €400,000 per week, and earning every penny, with more than 60 direct goal contributions in two complete seasons with Real.

=3. Vinicius Junior

• Weekly salary: €400,577 (£345,000)
• Annual salary: €20.83m (£18m)
• On contract until: 2027

The runner-up for the 2024 Ballon d’Or, it’s no surprise that Vinicius Junior is one of the best-paid players in the world.

Madrid brought the Brazilian to Europe when he was 18, spending a considerable €46m to do so, and the former Flamengo winger has since flourished as a first-team star.

Vinicius’ first Madrid salary pocketed him €128,269 per week, before he signed a contract extension in October 2023 to take his weekly wage above €400,000.

That came a few months after he inherited the iconic no.7 shirt at the Bernabeu and he has been living up to its reputation since, with achievements like scoring in the 2024 Champions League final.

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=5. Trent Alexander-Arnold

• Weekly salary: €320,577 (£276,000)
• Annual salary: €16.67m (£14.4m)
• On contract until: 2031

Alexander-Arnold ran down his contract with Liverpool to complete a move to Real Madrid in 2025, although his new club did end up paying a small transfer fee to take him in time for the Club World Cup.

The right-back rejected a contract renewal offer from Liverpool, where he was earning £180,000 per week since his last extension there in 2021 but would have been in line for another payrise.

After signing a six-year contract with Madrid, the England international now earns the equivalent of more than £275,000 per week, as well as a healthy package of bonuses.

=5. Rodrygo

• Weekly salary: €320,577 (£276,000)
• Annual salary: €16.67m (£14.4m)
• On contract until: 2028

Rordygo penned a new deal during the 2023/24 season.

He was making around €160,000 per week prior to his extension, which followed a season in which the winger scored 19 goals and assisted another 11.

The season which earned him new terms saw Rodrygo bag 18 goals and eight assists, and his consistency shows he was worthy of it.

However, he has since been linked with a move away, potentially into the Premier League, after Madrid’s investment in some even higher-earning attackers.

=5. Federico Valverde

• Weekly salary: €320,577 (£276,000)
• Annual salary: €16.67m (£14.4m)
• On contract until: 2029

Valverde has been at the club since 2018, and if he sees out his contract, will remain there until at least 2029.

His wage has risen gradually as he has become a more important player for Real. When he joined, he was being paid under €20,000 per week, then €80,000 per week for a couple of years, before moving to €156,000, and now around double that, at €320,577.

Valverde is undoubtedly one of the most important players in the Madrid squad, and it would not be a surprise to see his wage rise even further as he continues to have an impact for them.

8. Thibaut Courtois

• Weekly salary: €288,462 (£249,000)
• Annual salary: €15m (£12.9m)
• On contract until: 2026

Courtois is one of the highest-paid goalkeepers in the world, proving his worth at Real Madrid for over seven years after leaving Chelsea.

The 33-year-old has been earning the same since 2021 – three years after that move – when he last extended his deal, but still has more than a year left on his contract.

Whether he’ll remain in Real’s net beyond 2026 remains to be seen, with some reports suggesting the Spanish giants have considered other goalkeepers.

9. Antonio Rudiger

• Weekly salary: €280,385 (£242,000)
• Annual salary: €14.58m (£12.6m)
• On contract until: 2026

Rudiger left Chelsea on a free transfer to join Real in 2022. Given that they did not have to pay a transfer fee, there was more money to go towards the German defender’s contract.

He was handed €280,385 per week, which is what he still earns, and will do for another year until his contract is up.

At 32, it’s unclear whether Real will want to continue paying him such a large sum beyond his 2026 expiry, or if they’ll look to a younger player at the heart of their defence.

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10. Eder Militao

• Weekly salary: €280,385 (£242,000)
• Annual salary: €14.58m (£12.6m)
• On contract until: 2028

Militao’s wage essentially doubled at the time of his last contract extension. In January 2024, he went from being paid €141,192 per week to €280,385.

He has gone from a fringe player to playing almost every La Liga game in both 2021/22 and 2023/24, to deserve such a rise.

The Brazilian centre-back tore his ACL in November 2024, the second time he’s succumbed to such an injury in his career.