To think it’s ridiculous that footballer Mohammed Salah is now earning £1m a week?

[KimberleyClark]

He earns an amount in a week that most ordinary people could live on for the rest of their lives!

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/sep/29/liverpool-mohamed-salah-earning-at-least-1m-a-week-adviser-ramy-abbas

Fair play OP. I withdraw my comment.

He's a commodity and he's worth it to his employers. The money in football is ridiculous but it's a business. We're a United household and I'd still admit he's a great player and seems a good role model and all round great guy.

He also has value as a North African/Muslim player to the club and it's status in other countries (he's a hero in Egypt). The EPL is an international business.

Must have been a poor film then, because it was Pelé who changed the game in 1970 when he got a share of the profits from Puma King boot sales.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pel%C3%A9#%22Pel%C3%A9_Pact%22_and_Puma_sponsorship

That and the rivalry between Adidas and Puma transforming sports apparel into a million billion pound industry.

I also think it’s abhorrent that anyone can earn that kind of money from playing a game. And worse are the executives in charge of the clubs/associations. The Saudi league for example?

But that's capitalism for you. It's unfair to single out football. Look at big corporations where the CEOs earn millions while those at the bottom struggle on minimum wage. As pps have said, look at those with inherited wealth who do precisely fuck all for their money.

Salah has a skill that can command an exceptionally high wage. He has presumably worked his way up the football ranks, trained intensively and so on. It's a matter of luck for him that his skill is worth so much, and a matter of market forces in a capitalist society that make it so.

In the wider sense, capitalism is indeed abhorrent, but individual footballers are not abhorrent for simply taking what is been offered in a system they can't change - again, as pps have pointed out, Salah has been using at least some of the money charitably.

No. He’s an outstandingly talented individual, one of the greatest players in world football. The club make a very significant sum of money off him, why shouldn’t he have a share of it? He could earn far more if he went to the Saudi league, so it’s the going rate for a player of his stature. He’s also paying more in tax than most of us will ever earn in our lifetime.

Would it help to put some other numbers on this:

Liverpool football club revenues for 2022 was £594m, but their costs are high (including player wages) so their profit was £7.5m. The club is owned by an American company who owns lots of other sports teams.

I just don’t think it’s more “moral” that the American company that owns Liverpool gets to keep more of the £594m so that the players get less.

Footballers need to earn their money while they can as most are past their best when they hit early 30s. So the sensible ones invest wisely for their futures

Exactly this.
He's an exceptional player who could go anywhere in the world. He chooses to stay here for now which is our gain tax wise. What he chooses to do with his income is up to him but in a capitalist society someone has decided he is worth that figure.

Do you also object to the money J.K.Rowling makes from the Harry Potter IP?

It’s a great film, good on Pelé though, Jordan still had to fight for it with that precedent

I’m for any athlete who changes the structure

Christ Almighty. Humanity really does have its priorities all wrong.

Perfectly put. Thank you.

Please can we be looking at the likes of Manchester City as clubs if we are going to be bothered about the ethics of football and money?

As for "god knows what price", my husband's Liverpool ticket on Wednesday cost £27. Less than a curry.

Where on earth do you get your curries from? 😄

Not the point of the thread, but....you spend more than £27 per head on curry?!?

I don’t know, I hate football and hate how they roll around on the floor pretending to be injured but if that’s the going rate, if anyone deserves it Mo Salah does.

He's worth it. I'm not a football fan but have you seen his smile?

He lights up the whole world.

That is hardly an insane(ly big) profit.

Wait until you find out how much Ronaldo gets paid...

MorrisZapp · Today 12:41

He's worth it. I'm not a football fan but have you seen his smile?

He lights up the whole world”

oh, well, in that case. 🙄

It’s a business and he’s worth what people are prepared to pay him. And he does, in point of fact, have extraordinary skill - he’s not Kylie Jenner. He also will pay a lot of tax.

The wealth inequality problem in the Uk isn’t driven by footballers being paid too much.

It saddens me what we value in society when someone who kicks a ball earns more than someone who saves lives, dedicates their life to caring etc.

Nothing the OP said indicated she’s being racist. People complain about how much footballers earn all the time. She just saw an article in the guardian about him.

100%.

He entertains millions, and being able to do that is a priceless asset.

Doesn’t bother me in the least. Good for him.