Footballers are swimming in money, and most of them deserve that money they are getting but there tends to be a few players that somehow get paid way more than they actually deserve.
With the 2024/25 season underway, there are some high-profile players will be expected to deliver results that aligns with their high wages, bonuses, add-on, etc. Some players in the premier league earn huge and give low performances on the pitch. So, in this post we’re going to be looking at the 7 most overpaid players in the Premier League.
Top 7 Overpaid Players in the Premier League
7) Thiago – Liverpool FC
At number 7, we have Thiago at Liverpool who is earning 200k a week. Now, I’ve put Thiago on this list because at 200k, he earns the same amount as Mohamed Salah, Liverpool’s best player and he’s only just behind Van Dijk, who’s on 250k a week, making Thiago the second highest paid player in Liverpool.
While Thiago is a class player, and he’s got all the medals he’s won in his career, I don’t think he’s really made his mark on that Liverpool team like he was expected to. I don’t even think he’s the best centre-midfielder, or the second best in that Liverpool team because Henderson and Fabinho are ahead of him, and they get paid less than him.
His first season at Liverpool, he was injured a lot. He played 24 games, scoring one goal. He looks good whenever he does play, but, I think he should be dominating the Liverpool team more, and really assert himself in the Premier League to be that Spanish playmaker that we all thought he was.
6) Fabio Silva – Wolverhampton
This might be a surprise on the list but yes, we have Fabio Silva at Wolves for £80/week. Silva was a wonderkid on the Football Manager games but unless Wolves only listen to Football Manager, they really should not have paid £35m for an 18-year-old with no top flight experience. Before signing for Wolves, he had only played 12 senior matches and scored one goal.
Now, I understand Wolves are run by Portuguese people, and Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo’s agent, who makes most of Wolves’ transfers, convinced Wolves by Silva, who’s also his client, and signed him to a friend.
He has a five-year contract for £80k a week. Now, he’s only started 11 games in his first season, and he’s scored four goals. Then after that, he hasn’t started a single game this season since Jimenez came back, and he’s got no goals.
While Fabio Silva is still only 19 and can still become a great player, he’s still a work in progress. Wolves should have paid £35m to have a permanent starter who would be Jota’s replacement, not a young star who’s a work in progress, and earning £80k a week. He’s like the second-highest-paid player at Wolves.
5) Theo Walcott – Southampton
Next on the list of overpaid players in the EPL is Theo Walcott at Southampton for £70k a week. Walcott spent 10 years at Arsenal waiting to reach his full potential, but he never did.
After Everton paid Arsenal somewhat of £25m for Walcott, which didn’t work out, they let him go on a free to Southampton and Southampton, in May 2021, gave him a two-year contract worth £70k a week.
£70k a week is a lot for Southampton. Walcott is their highest-paid player and it was a complete waste of money, because Walcott hasn’t made the impact on the Southampton team that they expected him to.
His first season, he played 20 games and scored three goals. In the current season, he’s only started five games and scored zero goals. Big waste of money for Southampton’s highest-paid player to sit on the bench.
4) Andrei Yarmolenko – West Ham
Andrei Yarmolenko at West Ham, who earns £115k a week. Now, Yarmolenko has a contract with West Ham until 2024, and he’ll be getting paid £115k a week, making him their second-highest earner after Kurt Zouma, who’s on £120k a week.
In Yarmolenko’s first season, he started five games and made four sub-appearances, scoring two goals. Second season, he started 10 games, made 13 sub-appearances, scoring five goals. Third season, only one start, and 14 sub-appearances with no goals and this season, zero starts and 11 sub-appearances.
It seems like all of his sub-appearances are also around the 80th minute, 85th minute and the Hammers fans don’t like him. He’s a big waste of money, and they can’t wait to get him off their books but I don’t know how they’re going to do that because he just signed a new contract.
3) Jack Grealish – Manchester City
Jack Grealish at Man City for £300k a week is next on the list of overpaid players in the country. Well, speaking of money burners, Man City are one of them but they are a very well-run club and they normally do good businesses when it comes to transfers.
If they spend a lot, it’s probably worth it but with Grealish, I don’t think this is going to work out. I think he’s a great player, but he’s already Man City’s second-highest earner after De Bruyne.
De Bruyne deserves all his money but Grealish is on £300k a week. He’s got a lot of hype behind him. He performed well at the Euros. He took the Aston Villa team very far during his day there but I think this will turn out to be a bad contract especially when the likes of Phil Foden and Sterling are going to sign a new contracts, they’re going to demand that much or even higher because Grealish right now is just blending in the team.
He’s not making the difference that City were hoping because he’s not like De Bruyne. Even Foden is much better than Grealish. This isn’t too much of a big deal for Man City because they’ve got unlimited money but I think £300k a week for Jack Grealish.
2) Kepa Arrizabalaga – Chelsea
Chelsea player, Kepa Arrizabalaga, signed for £72m in one of the worst transfers in history. After flopping last season, Kepa only played seven matches, they brought in Mendy as his replacement and now Chelsea are looking to offload him as soon as possible.
He earns £190k a week to be Chelsea’s second string goalkeeper. He’s a sub for Mendy and he gets paid £190k a week, crazy amount.
Chelsea, of course, can afford it, but it’s ridiculous and this easily, in theory, should be the number one on this list but, I want to be a bit more creative and controversial.
So yeah, Kepa is £190k a week is outrageous.
1) Jadon Sancho – Manchester United
As a tradition in Manchester United of always giving players high wage and they end of as flops, Jadon Sancho for £350k a week has to be on this list.
After getting signed for £75M on a terrible contract, Sancho flopped at Man United. I get that he’s a rising star and he did smash it at Dortmund for a season or two but Man United vastly overpaid for Sancho. They gave him a £350k a week contract and Man United themselves are on a slump and they’re not performing well and some will say the club’s performance had an effect on him.
Sancho can’t even get ahead of Bukayo Saka in the national team. Saka, who’s younger, is only on £40k a week. He earns much less but to me, Saka is way better than Sancho and Man United just won’t get their return for the money.
THANK YOU FOR READING.