The best paid footballer in the world is…

The best paid footballer in the world, according to France Football, is Goldenballs himself David Beckham.

Considering that he doesn’t even take a wage from PSG, passing it on to charity, it is testament to David Beckham’s earning power off the field that he is back as the best paid footballer in the world.

France Football have released their figures for the 2012-13 season and they claim that Becks will pocket  €36million this year, only five per cent of which is earned in salary (we assume from LA). The remainder is from other sources and endorsements. Like Michael Jordan, we reckon Becks will continue to earn mega-bucks long after he retires.

Second is Lionel Messi, Number 1 on this list last year, who is worth every last cent of the €35m he will earn this year. Barca pay €13m of that, the rest comes from other activities.

Cristiano Ronaldo is beaten by his great rival again, earning ‘just’ €30m, of which Real Madrid pay €13.5m.

Samuel Eto’o, courtesy of his monster wage at Anzhi, pockets €24m a year while Neymar (€20), Sergio Aguero (€19m) and Wayne Rooney (€18) round out the top seven.

It is worth noting that Man City have three other players in the top 12 (Yaya Toure €16.6m, Carlos Tevez €16.2m and David Silva €16.2m) and the only Chelsea player is Fernando Torres, who is the 10^th best paid player in the world on €16.3m a year.