3. Wayne Rooney (Man United) - £15.6 million (Telegraph)
£300,000 a week £43,000 a day £1,800 an hour £30 a minute 50p a second. The man of the hour himself, Wayne Rooney made headlines last week after he became the Premiership's first £300,000-a-week player. Though his salary technically puts him level with Bale, his advertising deals with Nike, Ford, Asda and Coca Cola as well as his massive merchandise sales mean his earnings from endorsements give him the #3 spot over Bale. With the other top Premier league clubs sniffing after Rooney, United really had to offer a hefty salary like this to keep their lead man. Since Rooney then aged 17 ended Arsenal's 30-game unbeaten streak with that cracker of a goal over David Seaman's head, he has been the pride of English football. Critics of this recent deal have expressed their views that Rooney's talent is undeserving of this amount compared to similar player's wages. However, his performances in recent games have made it clear how integral Rooney is to the United squad and it would arguably cost them even more to bring another world-class talent in if Rooney did decide to leave.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
