Footballers get paid a bomb to entertain thousands of fans across the world and lead their team to glory, but not everyone is deserving of millions of pounds a year.

We takes a look at the salaries of a few players which will make you wonder exactly what was going on in the negotiation room.

Oscar, Shanghai SIPG - £384,000 per week

After 5 seasons at Chelsea, Oscar decided to move to China for a new adventure. Why, you ask, considering the level of competition there and the fact that he was 25 years old when he made the switch?

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Well, the answer is simple - he outearns the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Sergio Aguero and other world-class forwards. We're not saying that money was the only motivation for the player to move to Shanghai SIPG, but it damn sure played a major role.

The Chinese League is known for paying its players' an exorbitant amount of money and Oscar pockets over £20 million a year - he has scored 39 goals in 123 appearances for the club, which is not really the best return in investment.

In fact, you could afford the African duo of Salah and Mane and it would still not cost you as much as Oscar - two of them are Champions Leaguewinners and Premier League Golden Boot winners, while the other has won the Chinese Super Cup once. Go figure.

Matthijs de Ligt, Juventus - £275,000 per week

Overpaid does not always imply that the player in question is bad or underperforming. At times, the word overpaid simply has to be taken at its face value - being paid more than you're worth.

There is no doubt that 20-year-old Matthias de Ligt is a talented defender who plays at a level you would not expect at his age. He's strong, tall, good on the ball, captained Ajax at the age of 19 and has a voice so deep that it puts the Mariana Trench to shame.

However, the fact of the matter is, that he is paid more than the likes of national team captain Van Dijk and 4-time Champions League winnerRaphael Varane, who are arguably the two best players in their position in the world.

Juventus clearly are investing in De Ligt's talent and potential more than his current ability. That's not a bad investment for the future, but being paid £275,000 per week in your first season at a new club at the age of 20 definitely qualifies you to be on this list.

Alexis Sanchez, Manchester United/Inter Milan - £391,000 per week

The fall of Alexis Sanchez is something that was fascinating to witness if you're a Liverpool or an Arsenal fan, and horrific to watch if you support Manchester United. Indeed, not since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire has something fallen from grace so quickly.

One of the most explosive players in the world at Arsenal, it all went south for Sanchez when he joined Manchester United. At least, on the pitch it did. For his bank account, the move was genius.

Daniel Taylor wrote for a piece in The Guardian back when the Chilean joined Old Trafford: "Alexis Sánchez’s contract – £391,000 a week with an extra £75,000 for every game he plays and an annual £1.1m signing-on fee – is another indication of how far United are willing to go when a category-A player is available."

Well, it did not quite work out for United - Sanchez has scored 5 goals in 45 appearances for the Red Devils and they are still paying the bulk of his salary as he tries to get his career back on track in Inter Milan.

In fact, United want to offload him (smart), but he has two years remaining on his £25m-a-year deal and won't take a pay cut which could scupper their attempts of selling him. Well, we say all the best to United as they try and sort this mess out!

Andres Iniesta,Vissel Kobe - £450,000 per week

There was perhaps a time when clubs across the world would have happily paid the Spanish maestro £300,000 a week. At his peak, Iniesta was a generational player who helped Spain win their first and only World Cup and dominated club football with Barcelona.

However, at the age of 35, the man is pocketing upwards of £24 million a year while playing in Japan. For just a little more of this salary, you could afford Liverpool's title-winning midfieldof Fabinho, Gini Wijnaldum, and Jordan Henderson.

Iniesta has made 46 appearances for Vissel Kobe since his debut in 2018 and has earned over £60 million pounds during the same time - that clocks up to more than £1,000,000 per game. He has helped the team win 2 trophies, but we're not quite sure even the magical magician deserves this much money!

Christian Benteke, Crystal Palace - £120,000 per week

There was a time when Christian Benteke was one of the most lethal target men in the game, netting an impressive 50 goals for Aston Villa during his 101 appearances for the club.

However, in 2020, Benteke is as much a goal threat as Jose Mourinho is a tactical genius - he gets an odd goal here and there, but the man's basically stealing a living from Crystal Palaceover the past three seasons.

Since he joined the Eagles in 2016, Benteke has scored 23 goals in 115 appearances for the club - in the last 3 seasons, he has found the back of the net 6 times in 75 appearances. In contrast, Virgil van Dijk has 10 goals in 97 appearances for Liverpool in the past 2 seasons.

Strikers such as Tammy Abraham earn £57,692 a week, while Manchester United starlet Mason Greenwood is on £16,245 per week - both the players combined still earn less than Bentekeand have 23 combined Premier League goals this season. That is the same as Benteke's career tally for Palace!

Gareth Bale, Real Madrid - £350,000 per week

Bale has scored 105 goals in 251 games on the way to becoming Real Madrid’s fifth highest goalscorer in the 21st century and is earning a whopping £350,000-a-week. He has also won 4 Champions League titles - you'd think that's quite a successful career, and a salary well-earned, isn't it?

Not really. The Welsh international has not been a regular in the first-team for a while now and while Zinedine Zidane insists that he has no problems with the winger, the attitude of both the player and the manager says otherwise.

3 goals in 20 appearances this season, barely starting any game, looking demotivated on the bench, getting blasted by fans and media alike - and of course, who can forget the famous "Wales, Golf, Madrid" fiasco where Bale essentially put the Los Blancos last in his priority list?

After Zidane overlooked him for Real’s fifth and final substitution in the 2-0 win over Alaves last week, he laughed a big, loud laugh before mockingly pulling his face mask over his eyes, leaning back in his seat and pretending to fall asleep.

Clearly, Bale doesn't care - he'd rather be out there playing golf, knowing that his bank account is getting fatter than most of us during the lockdown. Bale would probably be worthy of £250,000 a week during his peak days, but to pay him £350,000 every 7 days for warming the bench and angering the fans seems like an ill-advised investment.

Ousmane Dembele, Barcelona - £220,000 per week

'Barcelona in the transfer market' is the saddest story you can write in just 5 words. Since the departure of Neymarto Paris Saint-Germain for a record transfer 3 seasons ago, the Catalan club has had much success in their recruitments as they have had in the Champions League.

One of the most highly-rated players in the last 5 years, Ousmane Dembelewas supposed to be the Neymar replacement that helped elevate Barcelona's attack while making fans forget all about the Brazilian. Instead, it seems that he has forgotten how to play football consistently at the highest level.

We must keep in mind that Dembele is still only 23 years old - however, the French international has spent more time injured on the sidelines since his move to the Camp Nou than he has spent on the field. Dembele has made only 74 appearances for Barca across 3 seasons, and he has appeared in only 9 games this season.

The talent is still there for all to see, but flashes of brilliance 3-4 times a season do not justify earning over a million pounds per month. If anything, Dembele's constant injuries and his massive pay are a headache for Barcelona, and it is no surprise that there are rumours of him being moved on.

Graziano Pelle, Shandong Luneng - £260,000 per week

Maybe the Brazilain Pele deserved the salary of £260,000 per week during his playing careers. But the same argument cannot be made for Graziano Pelle, whose most memorable achievement is probably winning the Premier League Player of the Month Award back in 2014 for Southampton.

Of course, as is the case with Oscar and Iniesta, this is a case of the leagues in Japan and China massively overpaying European stars. In 4 seasons in China, Pelle has scored 54 goals in 110 games and has been included in the Chinese Super League Team of the Year once.

Shandong Luneng have not won any trophies since they signed Pelle and decided to pay him more money than Liverpool pay back-to-back Premier League Golen Boot winner Salah.There's nothing much to add here except a suggestion - the Chinese club should probably revisit the player's contract...

Ander Herrera - Paris Saint-Germain, £350,000 a week

The Bermuda Triangle, what's inside black holes, Stonehenge, Ander Herreragetting paid £350,000 a week to play football - these are some of the mysteries of the world that we want to find answers to, but we can't.

Seriously, can someone tell us what Paris Saint-Germain were thinking when they decided to offer former Manchester United midfielder, Herrera, a contract of this size? Were they expecting him to replicate the same performance every game that he showed once for Jose Mourinho while man-marking Eden Hazard all those years ago?

This season, Herrera has played 547 minutes of football in the Ligue 1. Yes, that number isn't wrong. His influence on PSG winning Ligue 1 is comparable to Steven Gerrard's influence on Liverpool winning the Premier League this season.

Herrera has pocketed over £18 million since moving to France while making 19 appearances for the club - talk about the deal of a lifetime!

Mesut Ozil - £350,000 a week

At Real Madrid, Mesut Ozil was one of the best playmakers in the world and had the potential to enter the conversation for the greatest attacking midfielder of all time.

Since winning the World Cup in 2014 and signing for Arsenal a year prior to that, his stock has gone down considerably. While he has had a couple of great seasons for the Gunners, Ozil's best days are far behind him and he basically steals a living at the Emirates right now.

Since he signed his new bumper contract in 2018, Ozil has had a falling out with former manager Unai Emery and does not seem to be in the good books of new head coach Mikel Arteta either.

In fact, since the start of the 2018/19 season, the German international has made 54 appearances for the Gunners and has been involved in only 11 goalsduring that time. This season, Ozil has scored just one goal and played only 18 league games as Arsenal struggle for the Europa League spots.

All in all, Ozil's form on the field perfectly encapsulates what Arsenal have been for the most part since the departure of Arsene Wenger - toothless, aimless, and lacking any sort of quality.

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