Federico Chiesa is yet to kick a ball for Liverpool but the Italian winger has already made an impact off the pitch by rocketing into the club’s elite list of payroll recipients.
The 26-year-old turned down the eye-watering riches of a lucrative move from Juventus to the Saudi Pro League, where he had several suitors, as he was determined to join Arne Slot’s exciting squad at Anfield.
Although the Euro 2020 winner allowed his heart to rule his head when it came to selecting a new club, it was a far from costly decision with sporting director Richard Hughes having the license to hand him one of Liverpool’s biggest salaries.
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Chiesa has signed a four-year contract with the Reds, who could prove to have landed one of the summer transfer window’s very best bargains by paying Juventus only £10million for his services.
And while that fee could rise to £12.5million if the former Serie A star helps Liverpool to win either the Premier League or Champions League, that would of course still represent excellent value for Hughes and co.
Chiesa is on a similar salary to the one he pocketed in Turin – around £120,000 per week according to James Pearce in The Athletic – and is therefore earning more than all but nine of his new team-mates.
LIVERPOOL’S BIGGEST SUPERSTAR SALARIES
Mohamed Salah, whose future remains the subject of intense speculation, is of course the club’s best-paid player by far. The deal that is due to expire at the end of this season is worth £350,000 per week to the Egyptian talisman.
Virgil van Dijk, another player in the last year of his current deal, is the second-highest earner on weekly wages of £220,000.
Mohamed Salah
Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s £180,000 could well be nudged north of £200K if Liverpool can tie him down on a new contract before he’s entitled to talk to other clubs about a potential transfer away from his boyhood club. His current deal’s expiry date is also looming in June 2025.
Three key players in Manchester United’s annihilation on Sunday, Alisson, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister, are matched on £150,000 per week.
Just behind that trio, on £140K, are the attacking duo Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez. The latter is contracted until 2028 as things stand, one year later than Jota.
HOW CHIESA’S WAGES COMPARE
Chiesa comes into the reckoning at tenth place in the best-paid players chart, a position he shares with Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai. The Netherlands forward and Hungarian midfielder both signed for five years when they were acquired during the summer transfer window of 2023, Jurgen Klopp’s final one at the club.
No wonder the former Liverpool manager is widely praised for the positive state of the squad he bequeathed to his successor, Arne Slot. And now the new boss has two signings all of his own to add to the mix, in Chiesa and Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
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