Paul Pogba can afford to allow himself a wry smile when he picks up his first pay packet at Manchester United.
Four years after the club declined to pay him £65,000 a week, Pogba will be paid more than four times that amount to surpass Wayne Rooney as the Premier League’s highest earner.
Back in 2012, United were alarmed by the demands that Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola was making on behalf of a youngster who had made only seven first-team appearances, all as substitute.
History shows Juventus agreed to pay the sum, Pogba developed into one of the best players in the world and now the 23-year-old is back at Old Trafford, on an estimated £290,000 a week.
The wages being paid underline how determined United are to return to the top after missing out on the Champions League in two of the last three seasons.
Pogba, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are the three highest-paid players in the Premier League though Sergio Aguero is expected to burst into the group when he officially signs a new contract at Manchester City soon.
If Pogba stays the entirety of his six-year deal at United, he will collect £90m in wages. To put it in context, it would take Prime Minister Theresa May 629 years to earn the same amount.
Shortly before the Premier League started, the whole of Manchester United was valued at £18m – one-fifth of Pogba’s new contract.
Wage inflation has made top Premier League footballers among the best-paid people in the country, with figures akin to FTSE 100 business leaders.
With emerging markets like China offering top dollar and Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich expanding their commercial operations worldwide, English clubs have to dip into their pockets to keep the world’s best happy.
Pogba’s mind-boggling salary is still dwarved by the £500,000 a week earned by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at Barcelona and Real Madrid, though they are one-man brands, selling millions of shirts for their clubs because of their name.
One day Pogba may do the same for United, but he can’t at quite the same level yet.
So he will have to prove his worth on the pitch, by trying to earn the club their first post-Sir Alex Ferguson Premier League title, followed by Champions League glory.
Wage inflation in English football is astonishing. When Manchester United won the Treble in 1999, there was an outcry when they promised to pay Roy Keane a record £52,000 a week.
TOP 10 PREMIER LEAGUE EARNERS
1: PAUL POGBA (MAN UNITED) £290,000 a week until 2021 with a further year’s option
2: WAYNE ROONEY (MAN UNITED) £260,000 a week until 2019
3: ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC (MAN UNITED) £250,000 a week until 2017
4: SERGIO AGUERO (MAN CITY) £240,000 a week until 2019, talks over new deal ongoing
5: YAYA TOURE (MAN CITY) £240,000 a week until 2017
6: EDEN HAZARD (CHELSEA) £220,000 a week until 2020
7: DAVID SILVA (MAN CITY) £200,000 a week until 2019
8: MESUT OZIL (ARSENAL) £190,000 a week until 2018, talks over a new deal ongoing
9: DAVID DE GEA (MAN UNITED) £185,000 a week until 2019
10: RAHEEM STERLING (MAN CITY) £180,000 a week until 2020
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