Highest Paid La Liga Players in 2021

The 2021 summer transfer window, which was one of the most memorable in recent memory, is finally over and La Liga players like players from most leagues in Europe are set to stay, at least until January, in their respective clubs so we have decided to explore the player wages of La Liga and see who are the 10 highest paid players in La Liga in the 2020/21 season. With some of La Liga’s biggest earners in 2020 like Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos gone as well as some players like Gareth Bale coming bac to the competition this list has been subject to significant changes from last year.

With the pandemic taking its toll on football, especially La Liga and Serie A clubs, it has become increasingly difficult for even Real Madrid and Barcelona to keep up with the insane wages they pay their players. It has resulted in a hectic transfer window for Barcelona who was already experiencing financial difficulties even before the pandemic and this in turn has led to some of its the biggest stars leaving the club either for free or on a loan just to get their wage demands off their bill. With that being said, let’s take a look at the actual numbers that are being reported and see who are the

highest paid La Liga players in 2021

:

Highest paid footballers in Spanish La Liga

As is the case with any player contract, the actual wage demands and salary of that player isn’t exactly known and is mostly guesswork from various media outlets. We have tried to look at various sources, with Salarysport website as our main source, and give you the most accurate number that we think. That being said, while the order of highest paid footballers in Spanish La Liga is most likely correct here, their actual wages may differ slightly in actuality. Nevertheless, here they are:

10. Koke

Atletico’s captain, Koke, is the first player on our list of 10 highest paid players in La Liga in the 2020/21 season. a product of Atletico Madrid’s own youth academy, Jorge Resurrección Merodio or Koke for short, has spent the entirety of his career with Atleti and has been a mainstay for them throughout their success in the past decade. In turn, Atletico has awarded the talented midfielder with the captain’s armband and a decent salary, deserving of his station at the club.

Making his debut for the club during the 2009-10 season, Koke has become a formidable midfielder, capable of playing anywhere in the midfield for both Atletico and Spain national team. The great Xavi Hernandez has even called him his successor. While not exactly on Xavi’s levels, Koke has managed to win 2 La Liga titles, 2 Europa League trophies, a Copa del Rey and 2 Champions League final appearances with Atletico Madrid which is an impressive resume considering the club he’s playing at.

in turn are paying Koke quite handsomely for his services, with the midfield maestro earning up to

257k

 pounds a week in wages which adds up to a sum of

£13.3 million

in yearly wages. His last contract extension was in 2017 and that deal goes on till the summer of 2024. With how much he loves the club, it’s doubtful that Koke ever leaves Atletico and it’s likely that the club will offer him a new contract extension soon.

9. Marcelo

At No. 9 of our highest paid footballers in Spanish La Liga list, we have a Real Madrid veteran and club captain, Marcelo. One of the

, Marcelo joined the Los Blancos back in 2006 as a backup for the legendary Roberto Carlos and now with Sergio Ramos gone from Real Madrid, Marcelo is the only remaining member of the original Galacticos. A marauding left-back who once terrorized defenders all over Europe, Marcelo has now become a bit-part player at 33.

Currently, Real Madrid’s longest-serving player, Marcelo has been a mainstay and one of the pillars of Real Madrid’s success over the past decade and a half. Following in his compatriot and idol’s (Roberto Carlos) footsteps, Marcelo has shown how a left-back could be a valuable asset both in defense and attack, inspiring a host of full backs to follow his example. While he never shirks his defensive duties and at his best was rarely caught out of position, in attack he becomes a different player entirely, transforming into a world-class winger who could bring down any defense.

The Real Madrid veteran has played in 528 matches for Real Madrid in which he has scored 38 times. He has won 5 La Liga titles, 4 Champions League trophies, 4 FIFA Club World Cups, and 2 Copa del Reys with Real Madrid and for that, he is being paid an eye-watering amount of

£266,000

weekly wages. His base salary over a year adds up to just over

£13,832,000

.

Like any player who is over 30 years old at Real Madrid, Marcelo’s contract has been extended for only a year for a couple of seasons now and his current contract runs out at the end of the season. with no real talk of a contract extension, it’s highly likely that the Brazilian will leave Real at the end of the season but for now, he is one of the

highest paid La Liga players in 2021

.

8. Jan Oblak

One of the best goalkeepers of this generation and the only goalkeeper amongst the

10 highest paid players in La Liga in the 2020/21 season

, is the amazingly talented Jan Oblak. The 28-year-old Oblak has been consistently one of the best in Europe and as such has attracted the attention of some of the biggest clubs in Europe, so as one of the incentives for him not leaving the club, Atletico had to pay him a decent amount of wages and bonuses, making him one of the club’s top earners.

Joining Atletico from Benfica in 2014 to replace his now-rival,

, that had just left Atletico for Chelsea back then, Jan Oblak soon found himself as a starter between the posts for Atletico Madrid. The Slovenian had big shoes to fill with keepers like Courtois and De Gea coming before him but he not only matched their goalkeeping feats, he even began to surpass them. As he has been named

Goalkeeper of the Season 5 times in his six full seasons at the club, which just shows how good he is.

With Jan Oblak as their goalkeeper, Atletico Madrid has reached 2 major European Finals, once in the Champions League and once in Europa League, but they only managed to win the Europa League in the 2017-18 season. last season he and Atletico Madrid were able to win the La Liga against all odds, which was Oblak’s first-ever league title at the club.

Jan Oblak penned his most recent contract extension in 2019 which extends his stay at the club until the summer of 2023 and sees the 28-year-old get paid

£271,000

weekly wages that sums up to over

£14,092,000

a year. Of course, this is speculated to be only his base salary without the bonuses which we’re sure a player with Oblak’s performances will mostly collect, making him one of the highest paid La Liga players in 2021. Atletico will definitely try to extend his contract, ideally during this season, which will make him earn considerably more than he is being paid right now, which is just crazy for a goalkeeper!

7. Karim Benzema

At No.7, we have Real Madrid’s main man in attack,

, as the next player on our list. The 32 year-old comes into 7th spot in

ranking the 10 highest-paid players in La Liga

and has just recently signed another 1-year contract extension with Real Madrid. Benzema, who just started his 13th season with Los Blancos, has been the main source of goals for Real Madrid since Cristiano Ronaldo left the club and the Frenchman hasn’t disappointed since bringing his goal scoring to a whole other level by consistently scoring 20+ goals a season.

Benzema is yet another long serving Real Madrid player who joined the club from

back in 2009. Like Marcelo, Benzema has taken part in most of Real Madrid’s immense success since then. Although some criticize the Frenchman for missing obvious chances, especially earlier in his career, he has improved his game quite a lot since then and has added assists to his goals too. To the point that he seems to be running Real Madrid’s attack these days.

The 33 year old is Real Madrid’s best assist provider of all time and with 281 goals in 562 matches for Real, he is their 5th all-time top scorer as well. He has also helped Real win an unprecedented amount of 4 Champions League trophies over the course of 5 seasons as well as 4 FIFA Club World Cups, 3 La Liga titles and 2 Copa del Reys.

So it’s of no surprise that he earns a

£294k

weekly salary which over the course of a year adds up to a base salary of

£15,288,000

, as the Frenchman totally deserves it. Since his best seasons in terms of goal scoring has actually come after he turned 30, Real Madrid were happy to extend his contract for another season and will actually end in 2023, making him one of the highest paid La Liga players in 2021. 

6. Luka Modric

The only

amongst the

highest paid footballers in Spanish La Liga

and in fact, La Liga as a whole is Real Madrid’s Croatian playmaker, Luka Modric. The 35-year-old, who started his career with Dinamo Zagreb, became well known in Europe by playing for teams like

which in turn earned him a £30 million move to Real Madrid in 2012. Since then, Modric has defied all expectations and he has surprised everyone with his elegance and talent on the pitch, becoming one of the best midfielders of his generation.

After joining the club in 2012, Modric established himself as Real Madrid’s chief playmaker after Mesut Ozil left the club in 2013. He then played a vital role in Real Madrid winning their 10th Champions League title in 2014 and later his midfield partnership with Kroos and Casemiro, which was considered to be the best midfield pairing in Europe, led Real Madrid to 3 consecutive Champions League trophies.

Luka Modric even took one step further by captaining Croatia to an unlikely World Cup final which earned him the aforementioned Ballon d’Or award in 2019, despite their loss in the final against France. The award made him the first player in 11 years other than Messi and Ronaldo to win the Ballon d’Or.

The oldest player on our list of highest paid La Liga players in 2021, Luka Modric, has a contract that sees him get paid

£294,000

in weekly wages which adds up to

£15,288,000

in yearly salary. Just like Marcelo, Modric’s contract runs out at the end of the season but unlike Marcelo, Real Madrid still heavily rely on him so they may end up renewing his contract for another year. For now, we’ll have to see.

5. Toni Kroos 

Modric’s partner in midfield, Toni Kroos, comes at the halfway point of ranking the 10 highest-paid players in La Liga. The 2014 World Cup winner is by many accounts considered to be one of the best midfielders playing today,.is currently spending his 8th season at Madrid, having joined them from

. Comfortable on the ball and a true maestro of the game, Kroos has been at the heart of Real Madrid’s success and it’s to nobody’s surprise that he appears on this list.

Having won practically every club honor he could with Bayern Munich, Toni Kroos joined Real Madrid after winning the 2014 World Cup and after Real Madrid had won their 10th Champions League trophy. He has since helped Real Madrid win 3 consecutive Champions League titles as well as 2 La Liga titles and 4 FIFA Club World Cups.

Maintaining the services of one of the world’s best midfielders, and a World Cup winner at that has never been cheap so fittingly Real Madrid had to make Kroos one of the highest paid footballers in Spanish La Liga by giving him a weekly salary of 

£329k

which could reach up to

£17,108,000

in yearly wages. This makes Kroos one of the highest paid La Liga players in 2021 as well as fittingly, the best paid German footballer according to Bild.

4. Antoine Griezmann

After spending two underwhelming seasons at Barcelona, Le Petit Prince has gone back to Atletico Madrid once again, in what was one of the most shocking deadline day transfers of all time. The details of the actual deal that brought Antoine Griezmann once again to Atletico is not clear yet but since the deal was a loan, as long as he is under his current with Barcelona, Griezmann will be paid the same as he was at Barcelona. Which makes the World Cup winner, one of the highest paid La Liga players in 2021.

In a summer that went from nightmare to nightmare for Barca fans, they saw their legend Lionel Messi walk away from the club for free and just when they hoped that Antoine Griezmann could fill in the hole that Messi left behind to some extent, the Frenchman pulled a U-turn in the last day of the transfer window and went back to his old club. this would be the 2nd season in a row that Barcelona has strengthened their rivals, Atletico, by giving them one of their best players, first Suarez and now Antoine Griezmann.

The details of the deal are still foggy but it’s reported that there is an obligation-to-buy clause worth 40 million Euros for Greizmann, which considering the fact that Griezmann went from Atletico to Barcelona for €120 million in 2019 just shows how ridiculously bad Barcelona has been run in recent years.

Nevertheless, Griezmann’s salary of

£345k

weekly wages must still be paid by one of these two clubs and reports claim that it’s being full paid by Atletico. it has been reported that Greizmann's fixed yearly wage was somewhere around

£16.6 million

 which would've risen to 21 million by his last season at the club. A salary of that amount is not pocket change for Atletico but it’s one that they would happily pay to take away Griezmann from their rivals and defend their title with an even stronger team next season. 

3. Frankie de Jong

The youngest of the bunch amongst highest paid La Liga players in 2021, is Barcelona’s Frankie de Jong, who is touted to become one of the best Barcelona players in the next few years. Unlike many of the players on this list who are proven winners, de Jong is still at the beginning of his journey as a footballer but as has been the case with many young stars lately, he is being an astronomical amount of wages just because he was once a wonder kid.

Frankie de Jong started his footballing journey with Willem II and eventually got into Jong Ajax. He then went on to establish himself as one of Europe’s top talents by playing an important role in the young Ajax side that reached Europa League final and Champions League semi-final in two consecutive seasons. The 23-year-old received high praise for his part in

’s success.

A bidding war for de Jong’s signature ensued with the likes PSG and Manchester City involved as well as Barcelona but Barca ended up winning the race, signing de Jong from Ajax for €75 million.  Perhaps one of the factors in de Jong’s decision to join Barca was the staggering weekly salary of

£354k

that Barcelona would offer him, which adds up to almost

£18.4

million

a year. Although this number is reportedly his base salary (which is believed to be around £10 million) plus his performance bonuses. Nonetheless, it makes Frankie de Jong one of the highest paid La Liga players in 2021.

2. Eden Hazard

It’s almost impossible to make Real Madrid fans angrier at Eden Hazard than they already are, due to his lack of fitness and overall underwhelming career he’s had at the club, but seeing him this high amongst the 10 highest paid players in La Liga in the 2020/21 season surely will test their patience. The former Chelsea superstar joined Real Madrid with high expectations but he has ended up being one of the worst transfer fails in the history of football. his staggering price tag of €146.1 million that brought the Belgian to Santiago Bernabeu is increasingly becoming one of the worst deals in La Liga history.

The Belgian playmaker has always admired Real Madrid and even in his days at

declared his love for the club but he seems to be a shadow of the player he was at Chelsea now. While he never had that many injury problems at Chelsea, his time with Real Madrid has been plagued by injuries. Over the course of the last two seasons, Hazard has been kept out of 59 games because of injuries. that is just astronomical and considering his wages, Real Madrid cannot afford to have such an injury-prone player on their payroll!

But Eden Hazard’s 5-year deal with Real Madrid and his extremely high

£416k

weekly wages that sum up to almost

£21.58 million

a year, make him extremely hard to move on unless he decides to have a good season and stay fit. For his sake and for Real Madrid’s sake, Eden Hazard just has to perform this year otherwise, he might still earn enough to be one of the

highest paid La Liga players in 2021

but his career at the top level will be finished!

1. Gareth Bale

Last but certainly not the least is the Welsh Wizard himself, Gareth Bale, who takes the No.1 spot on ranking the 10 highest-paid players in La Liga. Bale’s time at Real Madrid has been a mixed bag, especially in recent seasons, but there is no denying his immense impact on Real Madrid’s success in the past decade. Once considered to become one of the greatest in the world and then delivering on that to some extent, Gareth Bale’s stature has allowed him to negotiate one hell of a deal for himself.

In fact, Gareth Bale’s salary is so high that the deal has become a nightmare for Real Madrid since it’s impossible to move the player on. Even half his wages would rival the highest-paid players in other elite European leagues. As a matter of fact, Tottenham, who took Bale on loan last season, only was paying half his wages and still, he was their top earner for his 1-season stay there.

We’re talking about a salary in the vicinity of

£31.2

million

-a-year which equates to a whopping

£600,000

a week in wages. His salary has been one of the biggest issues he’s had at Madrid as the club has treated him harshly in order to make him leave but Bale has done what any sane person would do and has stood his ground, letting his contract run its length and he’s paid what he is due.

While many fans would take issue with that, it’s important to note that despite Bale’s injuries, in his prime he has been second only to Cristiano Ronaldo and on par with Karim Benzema in the amount of influence he’s had on Real Madrid’s success and he should be treated accordingly. While his attitude has not been the best in recent seasons, the club should’ve never given him a deal this big while they knew about his injury history and they should’ve never blocked his move abroad a few years ago when he was ready to move to China.

Regardless, as it stands Gareth Bale is highest paid La Liga player in 2021 and he will continue to do so at least till the end of the season when his contract with Real Madrid runs out!

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