Even Premier League footballers cannot escape life’s two certainties: death and taxes.
The division’s elite are afforded all of the world’s luxuries, yet those eye-watering wages come at a cost in a country where income tax can stretch up to 45%. For the players that incorporate companies to allow the added benefits of that financial jiggery-pokery, The Sunday Times have also taken into consideration corporation tax, dividend tax, capital gains tax and some payroll taxes while devising their estimates for the year of 2025.
The Premier League’s top 10 highest tax payers collectively chipped in more than £100 million ($137.6 million) between them. Who said footballer’s contribute nothing to society?
10. Kai Havertz (Arsenal)
Estimated tax payment: £7.8 million
The ephemeral German was widely considered to be Arsenal’s highest-paid player before Bukayo Saka earned himself a bumper new deal in January. The England international will surely find his way onto this list next year with that pay packet flooding his way.
9. Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal)
Estimated tax payment: £7.9 million
A seven-digit tax bill represents some transformation from Gabriel Jesus’s modest beginnings. To earn some extra money as a football-loving scamp, the Brazilian painted the streets of his neighbourhood in preparation for the home World Cup in 2014.
Two years later, Jesus won Olympic gold at the Rio de Janeiro games for Brazil alongside Neymar Jr., one of the faces he had painted on the curbs of his local area.
8. Omar Marmoush (Man City)
Estimated tax payment: £8.8 million
One of the more surprising names on the list. Omar Marmoush’s hefty tax bill may very well be indicative of the financial reward which Manchester City offered him as incentive to leave Eintracht Frankfurt in the middle of last season.
Thus far, it seems to have worked out better for Marmoush’s bank balance—and the coffers of the U.K. Treasury—than City.
7. Bernardo Silva (Man City)
Estimated tax payment: £9 million
One of Bernardo Silva’s understated qualities which Pep Guardiola cherishes more than some of his obvious technical gifts is the capacity to never show a “bad face” even in defeat. A look at his latest tax bill may have contorted Bernardo’s expression.
6. Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd)
Estimated tax payment: £9 million
One way for Bruno Fernandes to rid himself of any tax demands would be to belatedly accept those eye-watering offers which roll in from Saudi Arabia. There is no personal income tax in the Kingdom.
However, as Jordan Henderson discovered to his own cost, it’s not that simple. A former U.K. resident must spend the rest of that tax year and the entire following tax year outside the U.K. to ensure that their earnings are not subjected to Britain’s tax laws.
5. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Estimated tax payment: £9.7 million
The two-year contract extension which Virgil van Dijk signed last April cemented his status as the world’s highest-paid defender. How times have changed.
When the Dutch centre back was coming through the ranks of his local youth side in Breda, he worked as a dishwasher at a local restaurant earning €3 per hour.
4. Raheem Sterling (Formerly of Chelsea)
Estimated tax payment: £9.8 million
Raheem Sterling’s tax bill next year is set to be a lot more modest. After willingly tearing up his contract at Chelsea this month, the former England international is reportedly prepared to accept less than a third of the £325,000-a-week wage which he collected at Stamford Bridge.
3. Casemiro (Man Utd)
Estimated tax payment: £10.9 million
Casemiro won’t have to pay up for much longer. Manchester United’s midfield totem has announced he will be moving onto pastures new come the end of the current campaign.
Saudi Arabia and its tax incentives has been upheld as a potential option while Major League Soccer could also offer a new landing spot. U.S. taxes are dependent upon each state, which play some part in Casemiro’s thinking when he weighs up the bevvy of suitors vying for his attention this summer.
2. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Estimated tax payment: £14.5 million
For much of his Liverpool career, Mohamed Salah has wholeheartedly deserved his latterly status as one of the Premier League’s best-paid players. That justification has waned for the first time this campaign—Tottenham Hotspur’s mercurial striker Richarlison, for example, boasts more top-flight goal contributions than Liverpool’s talisman.
There may not be much longer for Salah to remain in England’s top flight, with constant links to the Saudi Pro League heightened by a mid-season strop with Arne Slot.
1. Erling Haaland (Man City)
Estimated tax payment: £16.9 million
There were a lot of large numbers involved in the contract extension Haaland signed in January 2025. Most were initially taken in its dizzying duration, which will stretch until the summer of 2034, yet the salary it contains is also pretty hefty.
“This feels really normal for me to do,” Haaland shrugged. “Got the good feeling inside my body.”
