Real Madrid's renewals, Kroos, Modric, Bale... will cost 31.4M€
Real Madrid's squad will earn 31.4 million more, as competition from the Premier League grows. Kroos and Modric have re-signed, Bale is about to...
Real Madrid salaries on the rise
Real Madrid will be paying their first team squad 31.4 million euros more this year, as competition from the Premier League pushes football salaries higher and Real Madrid look to keep their stars happy.
Premier League cash pushing up wages
The 3,100 million euros a year the Premier League received from Sky and BT for the broadcast rights go a long way. And not just Real Madrid, but Atlético and Barcelona too have been forced to react and increase the salaries of their players, in the face of succulent offers from England.
LaLiga pulls in 1,600 million euros a year (on a three year deal), with Madrid and Barcelona getting 140 million each of that. Atleti get 100. And it's clear that on TV money alone the Spanish big boys are struggling to compete, with the smallest payout to a club in the Premier being just 75 million.
Atlético Madrid and Barcelona protect their stars
Atlético have moved to protect stars Griezmann and Carrasco, both recently renewed, while Barcelona upped Neymar's deal yesterday. And Real Madrid will extend Lucas Vázquez's contract by two years to 2022.
Within this context Real Madrid have the most aggressive policy: they will raise their overall squad wage bill by 31.4 million euros, according to the 2016-17 budget. That cash is going to Kroos and Modric (already renewed), Lucas Vázquez (on the point of putting pen to paper), Cristiano, Bale and maybe Isco (the club aren't sure if he will renew, as he wants to play more and his current deal is up in 2018, meaning if he's going to leave anyway it would likely be in his interests not to extend).
Guardiola keen on Kroos
Pep Guardiola wanted Kroos at City. His contract was up in 2020, and it wasn't a priority for Real Madrid to extend the deal, but Madrid saw themselves forced to raise his salary from around 5.6 million net to 10 and a half million euros. That's what Modric will be on too, who previously earned a shade less than Kroos. Interestingly Cristiano's extension shouldn't cost more: he's on 20.5 million net. The doubt is if he'll sign to 2020 or 2021. Bale is the other player who is looking for a major salary bump, and he'll get it, likely going from nine million euros net a year to 15...
Real Madrid not close to 70% wage bill recommendation
Real Madrid declared income of 620 million euros in 2015-16, giving them room for manouevre. Uefa recommend that the wage bill doesn't exceed 70% of that (the entire club, not just the first team squad). The total wage bill in 15-16 was 306 million (first team squad 186, Champions League bonus 38, Real Madrid Castilla 10, non-sports personnel 30, basketball 26...). Meaning the coefficient stands at 49%, a long way from the recommended 70% and the 419 million euro salary cap imposed by LaLiga.
Real Madrid turned down Pogba to protect salary structure
One interesting point: Real Madrid turned down Pogba not because of a lack of cash, but in part because the 20 million euros net he was demanding a year would have broken the wage structure. If a newly arrived player had been pulling in that kind of money, a lot of Real Madrid players would have been knocking at Florentino Pérez's door demanding the same...