Even the eye wants its part. The richest footballer in the world is not the best (Messi), nor the most successful (by eye, any of Barcelona's Spanish internationals), but the most iconic and probably the most beautiful.
Obviously we are talking about David Beckham, that same Beckham who had lost himself years ago in the relatively luxurious - and relatively competitive - meanderings of the US championship, to occasionally reappear in Europe in January - just long enough for a handful of very decent matches with Milan during the MLS break - and who now he is married to the Paris Saint Germain of the sheikhs.
A footballer who, however good, more than a champion (which he never was) has always been a brand, a formidable marketing machine, capable of producing – pro domo sua – a gain of 36 million euros in the last year, 33 of them in commercials, even now that his career is coming to an end.
From second place onwards, however, the ranking returns to the natural order of things: behind the Spice boy, in fact, we find Lionel Messi (35 million) and Cristiano Ronaldo (30 million), followed in turn by another almost ex like Eto'o, who chose golden exile at Anzhi, and by the young star Neymar, who despite having never set foot, football-speaking, on this side of the ocean, already earns 20 million euros a year , between salaries and sponsors.
Il first among the Italians is instead Gianluigi Buffon, which ranks 18th in the Scrooge rankings with only, so to speak, 12,4 million euros.
Among the technical guides, and perhaps it could not be otherwise, the Special One Josè Mourinho, with 14 million, in a ranking, however, dominated by the Italians - there are 6 among the top 12 - testifying, perhaps, that the local school it still counts for something.
In fact, completing the podium are Carlo Ancelotti (12 million) and former national coach Marcello Lippi (11 million), now coach of Guangzhou in China. The other Italians among the nabobs on the benches are, in order, Fabio Capello, Roberto Mancini, Roberto Di Matteo – one of the two unemployed luxury players in the standings, together with former Liverpool player Kenny Dalglish – and Luciano Spalletti.
