Kylian Mbappe leaps ahead of PSG team-mate Lionel Messi to top football rich list
French forward Kylian Mbappe has ousted his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Lionel Messi in Forbes' list of the world's richest footballers for the 2022/23 season
Kylian Mbappe has leaped ahead of his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Lionel Messi to top the football rich list.
After signing a lucrative new contract with the French champions back in May, keeping him with PSG through until the summer of 2025, Mbappe is now set to earn an estimated £115million in the 2022/23 season, according to Forbes. Those earnings are enough to see the 23-year-old rank number one in Forbes' list of the world's highest paid footballers.
He has moved ahead of both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the first time in eight years that neither of them have topped the list.
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Messi is second on the list with predicted earnings before agent fees equalling £108million, with Ronaldo in comparison being paid £90million.
Fellow PSG star Neymar is fourth with £78million ahead of Premier League duo Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland, who will earn £47million and £35million, respectively.
Between them, the 10 highest paid players in the world are expected to earn a total of £588million, an increase of 11% from the 2021/22 campaign.
Mbappe's rise to the top comes after he signed a new deal with PSG earlier this year, with his previous contract having been set to expire at the end of last season.
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He had been strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid prior to signing his new deal, but is now set to stay with the club for the next three years and has started the new season in impressive form, scoring 11 goals in 12 appearances already.
However, he was unable to find the target on Saturday night as PSG were held to a goalless draw away to struggling Stade Reims, with Sergio Ramos sent off for the visitors.
Messi was absent from the match with a calf injury, having also been in fine form in front of goal so far this season. The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner has eight goals and eight assists in 13 matches across all competitions.
He also broke two records on Wednesday night as he scored in his side's 1-1 draw with Benfica in the Champions League, becoming the first player to score against 40 different clubs in the competition and having the most goals from outside the box.
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