Following his record breaking £100million move to Manchester City from Aston Villa last summer which saw him become the most expensive British footballer of all time, Jack Grealish is now reportedly set to sign another big money contract with fashion brand Gucci.
According to The Athletic, the England international is set to sign a ‘seven-figure deal’ with the Italian company, who see him as the perfect candidate to promote their products due to his high profile and global appeal.
Mirror Football takes a look at some of football’s biggest endorsement deals following the news of the major contract for the 26-year-old.
Manchester United ’s Cristiano Ronaldo has been a global superstar for the majority of his career, which has seen him become one of the main faces of football and has therefore landed him a number of high-profile endorsement deals down the years, with the Portuguese forward becoming the player to rack up the highest career earnings to date.
The 37-year-old has landed huge paying deals with the likes of Nike, earning a reported £14.7m a year after signing a lifetime contract in 2016, as well as Altice, Herbalife, DAZN, MTG, Clear Shampoo, Abbott and Unilever in the past, with research from OddsMonkey revealing that Ronaldo earned £33.8m from endorsement deals and social media activities in 2020.
Lionel Messi is an obvious inclusion on this list and is best known for his deal with Adidas which has seen him pocket millions since signing a life-time contract with the German company in 2017, worth $25million (£19m) a year, while further endorsements have come in the form of Gatorade, Pepsi and Budweiser, which have contributed to the footballing star to earn $33million (£25m) a year.
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Messi's teammate, Neymar, has been at the forefront of many endorsements since becoming Brazil's poster boy at such a young age and it is estimated that he earns €20 million from off-pitch endorsements. The trickster pocketed a staggering €105m (£88.6m) from an 11-year contract with Nike, before swapping to Puma who doubled his Nike salary, taking home €14m (£11.8m) a year.
Man United midfielder Paul Pogba is also a high-earner off the pitch and it is no surprise given his strong social media presence, with the Frenchman raking in almost £4m in commercial deals last year, which is heavily contributed to through his contract with Adidas.
Liverpool favourite Mohamed Salah has become a global superstar since his move to Merseyside in 2017 and after smashing goalscoring records and winning a number of trophies for the Reds, the Egyptian international has landed an extra £9m a year through big money deals with Vodafone Egypt, Uber, Electronic Arts, and Adidas.
Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane looked set to beat Grealish’s British transfer record last summer by joining the Birmingham-born winger at the Etihad Stadium before those bids were turned down, yet the England international can still take enjoyment from earning £1.4m a year from Nike, Lucozade Sport and Hugo Boss.
Chelsea ’s N’Golo Kante also makes the list of highest earning football players outside of the game, with the French World Cup winner signing a huge five-year deal with Adidas that gains him an extra £15m on top of his deal with the Blues, which sees him earn the same amount in west London.
Former professional and England legend David Beckham was well known for being the face of many advertisements during his career, in which he ranked 7th in the highest paid athletes of all time with $800 million to his name by the time he retired, partnering with the likes of H&M, Breitling, Sainsbury's, Armani, Gillette, AIA Group, and PepsiCo, and helped to create the famous Adidas Predator boots.
