Verratti to Al Hilal, the deal is a step away. He will be the highest paid Italian sportsman in history. Here is the special ranking
The deal is one step away. He, Marco Verratti, has accepted the offer. Normal, when you’re in front of a mountain of money like that. The Azzurri midfielder has reached an agreement with the Arab club Al Hilal, who are likely to take the player who will thus end his career, perhaps, without any appearances in the top flight.
Now what is missing is the agreement between the two clubs, but no doubt the white smoke is close. Few discussions on this. The feeling is that there could soon be the official announcement with the subsequent closure of the story. But how much will Verratti earn? Rumours speak of over 50 million euros per year as salary. A huge sum that no Italian scattered around the World has ever taken. Yet there have been Azzurri players, or athletes in general, or coaches, who have worked abroad. So here is this special ranking.
Verratti at Al Hilal, the salary ranking
Detracting Verratti, who evidently will be the highest paid ever, the Italian athlete who earned the most while playing abroad was Danilo Gallinari. In 2016 his salary was over 20 million euros per year. A monstrous figure. In second place not a footballer, nor even an Nba player, but Antonio Conte, who had reached an agreement with Tottenham on the basis of 17.5 million euros per year. Madonna what figures.
Gallinari (Lapresse)
Moving down a few places in this special ranking we find El Shaarawy: when he went to play in China, at Shendong Shenua, he settled for 16 million euros. One less, on the other hand, was the salary of Graziano Pellè, whom we all remember in Italy, unfortunately, for that missed penalty against Germany by doing the feint with the dug-out hand. Then there is Giovinco, with 10 million euros, the same amount that was guaranteed to Valentino Rossi by Yamaha. In short, a lot of money, but light years away from what Verratti is prepared to take.