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22 • Touchline • Issue 16
In June of this year, English paper The Daily Telegraph
published a list of how much teams spend on player wages.
The figures are staggering. Manchester City, fuelled by
petrodollars, spends an average of $8,059,477 a week on
wages: meaning that the squad average is $154,990.
While big name starters like Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero are
pocketing three times that amount, fringe players are also paid
money that would make a sheik blush.
What is interesting about the list are the types of teams
that dominate it. Of the top 12, eight are from the European
football leagues. Of the remaining four, three are baseball
teams and the remaining slot is basketball’s LA Lakers.
What do football and baseball have in common? That’s right:
they have no salary caps. Clubs can spend whatever amount
they like on whomever they want. As long as they can sustain
the expenditure, they can keep hoovering up the talent. Even to
the point where they buy players just to keep them out of the
hands of a rival team.
In one recent transfer move, English team Chelsea (9th on
the list, by the way) gazumped fellow London club Tottenham
Hotspur in a move for Brazilian player Willian. Chelsea now
have eight players for effectively three positions. Tottenham’s
chairman Daniel Levy cried foul, asserting that Chelsea only
bought the player to sting their cross-town rivals.
THE SALARY CAP:
HOW FLAT DO WE WANT OUR SPORT?
BY TIMOTHY MOTTRAM
The Manchester City Stadium - Home venue of Manchester City, who
spend the highest amount per player than any other team.
Nasri and Aguero with the
Premier League Trophy in 2012
Yaya Touré earns up to
$400,000 per week.