Sadio Mane’s Saudi Pro League wages compared to Al Nassr teammate Cristiano Ronaldo
- Sadio Mane is on the brink of leaving Bayern Munich to join Al Nassr
- Last season's top-flight runners-up also boast Cristiano Ronaldo among their ranks
- Al Nassr are expected to pay a sum in the region of £34m for Mane's transfer fee and salary
For years, Sadio Mane went by the nickname "Samba Alar" among some of his harsher critics.
The disapproving sobriquet highlighted his starring role at club level which jarred with seemingly underwhelming displays for the Senegal national team. These days, the very opposite is true.
Mane scored the penalty to win Senegal's first Africa Cup of Nations title and steered his country to the World Cup finals last year. Yet, the shin injury Mane sustained while playing for Bayern Munich in November ruled him out of the entire tournament.
The former Liverpool star scored just one Bundesliga goal after the World Cup. Rather than fight for form and a starting berth in Bavaria, Mane has agreed terms with Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr, who are captained by a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.
With his official unveiling imminent, here's how Mane's inflated wage compares to his new teammates.
What will Sadio Mane earn in Saudi Arabia?
At the end of June, Mane was completely disinterested in any of the offers pouring in from the Saudi Pro League, as reported by 90min at the time.
Yet, in the space of two weeks, Mane performed a head-spinning U-turn and accepted Al Nassr's terms. Admittedly, an annual salary of £34m - £650,000 a week - must be pretty persuasive. Although, he wasn't exactly struggling for cash at Bayern.
Mane may have been outscored by 33 players last season but he was the Bundesliga's top earner. Unlike many of the other individuals that have been lured away from European leagues in search of Saudi's riches, Mane's wage bump doesn't initially appear to be earth-shattering - in fact, it's less than double what Bayern paid him.
Bayern Munich signed Mane for an initial fee of £27.5m last summer as Robert Lewandowski's nominal replacement. Mane couldn't match the Pole for goals but he did fill his role as Bayern's best-paid player, taking home £360,000 each week (£18.9m).
However, there is no personal income tax in Saudi Arabia - the state is rich enough. While in Germany, Mane would have lost 45% of his wages due to taxation, ensuring that the Senegal international actually pocketed £10.4m last season once the SDP got their slice.
What does Cristiano Ronaldo earn in Saudi Arabia?
For the third time in his career, Ronaldo has been ranked as the highest-paid athlete in the world by US business magazine Forbes. If Ronaldo continues to sulk and strut in Saudi Arabia, there is little chance of any other individual displacing him at the summit.
Ronaldo reportedly rakes in a sickening sum of £177m each year from his basic salary at Al Nassr. As many as 17 Premier League clubs, including runners-up Arsenal, spent less on the wage bill for their entire squad last season.
Before he forcibly severed ties with Manchester United via the acidic medium of a Piers Morgan interview, Ronaldo was thought to earn around £26.8m per year. Even at Juventus, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner didn't come close to his current salary; commanding in the region of £49.8m each season in Turin.
READ MORE ON THE PLAYERS LINKED TO SAUDI ARABIA & THE MONEY ON OFFER
manual
Sadio Mane's salary compared to other Al Nassr teammates
Ronaldo's pay packet dwarfs that of his new teammate. Mane stands to earn less than a fifth of Ronaldo's annual salary, even though he finished second in last year's Ballon d'Or - 18 places higher than the Portuguese veteran.
However, the two Champions League winners are not the only notable arrivals at Al Nassr this summer. Marcelo Brozovic forced his exit from Internazionale before his new employers were struck with a transfer ban (which has since been lifted). The entrepreneurial midfielder - who opened a cafe-bar called 'Epic Brozo' in Croatia - is thought to earn a similar salary to Mane, around £35m per year.
While Mane and Brozovic have entered the autumn of their career and Ronaldo is trudging around a wintry end-game, Seko Fofana is at his peak. The 28-year-old midfielder captained RC Lens to second place in Ligue 1 last season, just one point shy of Paris Saint-Germain's well-paid cabal.
However, Fofana had his head turned by Al Nassr's offer of £13m a year (£250,000 per week). While it is short of the sums splashed on some of his new teammates, Fofana's improved wage represents a ten-fold increase compared to his salary at Lens.
Alex Telles, Ronaldo's former Manchester United teammate, earned an estimated income of £1.7m during his single season on loan with Sevilla last term. United managed to squeeze a £6m transfer fee out of Al Nassr for the Europa League champion this summer who is set to take home £7m each season in Saudi Arabia.
Before Ronaldo's arrival and the riches that flooded the division thereafter, the Ivorian defender Ghislain Konan was Al Nassr's best-paid player on an annual stipend of the comparatively modest £3.5m. It has been a short and expensive few months.
LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST
On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Toby Cudworth is joined by Graeme Bailey to discuss the next steps in Bayern Munich's Harry Kane hunt, Brighton rejecting another Chelsea bid for Moises Caicedo, who has had the most impressive transfer window so far & more!
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!