Want to see the world’s most expensive team in wages?

On the face of it, this looks like a pretty formidable team. And so it should, as according to a Portuguese newspaper, it is the world’s most expensive XI based on wages.

By Declan Whooley

For some on this team, their pay cheque is just about the only thing bigger than their egos, though with the figures banded about by the paper A Bola, you can almost (we did say almost) begin to see why.

Playing a 4-3-3 formation spearheaded with an attacking trio of Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Samuel Eto’o on his crazy money in Russia, the best defence in the world would struggle to contain them. Anzi are reportedly forking out more than €20 million a year for the Cameroon international, which is roughly €2,500 an hour. Nice work if you can get it.

John Terry and Ashley Cole are part of the back four, with Manchester City duo David Silva and Yaya Toure taking their places in midfield thanks to the Sheikh investors at the Etihad. Not surprisingly, Arsenal’s wage structure means no Gunner comes anywhere near the team, though Man United are also not represented.

The figures given stated are the millions per year each player earns, and while Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero and Fernando Torres (money, not form) must have come close to a starting spot, they would hypothetically form a money-spinning bench.