A few take it seriously by joining a colts club or lately an academy to polish their inherent skills. A few out of the people with the zeal to play football to the highest level are however, able to get the breakthrough by playing for some of the giants in their country, with the anticipation of landing a lucrative contract in the future.
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Among the African player who managed to rise to the top and secured a big money move which ended up enriching their pockets have been compiled after a release by Forbes Magazine.
Below is the full list of richest African footballers:
Samuel Eto Fils
The four time African Footballer of the Year is the richest African footballer, with a total worth of $140 million.
Samuel Eto Fils is the most decorated African player, having won thre UEFA Champiosn league titles, several La Liga and Serie A titles and internationally he has two Africa Cup of Nations titles and an Olympic gold and aside from his his ilustrious football career he has enriched himself from the various transfer deals he has been involved.
Eto was the highest paid player in the world during his days at Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala where he earned $25 Million annually.
He has several businesses in Cameroon including a telecommunication company.
Didier Drogba
The former Ivorian skipper had a great career at Chelsea football club. He was instrumental as they won three league titles in 2005, 2006 and 2010, before inspiring them to win the UEFA Champiosn League and the UEFA Europa League in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Didier Drogba was on $170,000 a week at Chelsae and he had a leap in his earning when he joined Shanghai Shenhua at the twilight of his career, a short spell though. His wages were also good at Galatasaray too which saw him pick up $5.2 million annually.
He has also enjoyed from a number of endorsement deals with multinational companies like Pepsi, just to mention, but a few.
Yaya Toure
The Ivorian midfielder follows his compatriot Didier Drogba in terms of the richest African footballers in 2020, wiith a net worth of $80 million.
Yaya Toure joined City from Barcelona and signed a five-year-deal worth a staggering £55.6m.
Toure will was picking up a basic wage of £185,000 a week before tax but the figure was expected to increase to £221,000 when the Government's 50% tax bracket comes into force.
On top of his unbelievable basic wage, the Ivory Coast international was also receiving an image rights payment of £1.65m a year plus an additional £823,000 bonus each time City qualify for the Champions League.
He won three Premier League titles at Manchester City in his spell with the side.
Toure now plies his trade for Chinese Qingdao Huanghai
Emmanuel Adebayor
Emmanuel Adebayor who had a loan spell in the course of his career has a net worth of $45 million dollars.
Emmanuel Adebayor from 2003 to 2006 played for Monaco, before he joined Arsenal from the French side for 3 million pounds.
Adebayor signed a five-year contract for $25 million pounds with Manchester City in 2009. He was loaned out to Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur during that time. He signed permanently with Hotspur in 2012 for $5 million pounds.
He has also excelled playing for his national team Togo, where he helped Manchester City to qualify for their maiden FIFA World Cup in 2006.
Adebayor is also Togo’s all-time top scorer with 27 goals.
5. Mohamed Salah
The Egyptian signed staggering 50-million-pound club record deal with Liverpool.
He formed a trio with Sadio Mane and Roberto Ferminho and helped the Reds to win the UEFA Champions League in 2017.
Salah also inspired Egypt to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)final, but they lost against Cameroon.
He also earned a place in ‘CAF Team of the Tournament.’ As of 2019, Mohamed Salah’s net worth is $58 Million dollars. He may not be the richest Footballer in Africa 2020 right now, but he is on the way to be.
6. John Mikel
John Mikel rose to fame in 2005 after he played a key role as Nigeria finished runners-up in the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Manchester United took the lead for his signature , but they were piped by their rivals Chelsea.
At Chelsea, he was transformed from an offensive player to a defensive midfielder.
The Nigerian star was well paid at Chelsea and a successful Chelsea career, winning the UEFA Champions League, leagues, FA Cups, he joined the Chinese Super League for another big money move and later moved to Trabzonspor in Turkey.
At the national team level he captained Nigeria as they won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and als played a key role during their 2014 FIFA World Cup.He has net worth of $53 million
7. Sadio Mané
Sadio Mane who is the African Footballer of the Year 2019 is paid £150,000 per week and his annual salary is in the region of £7.8million He has been a key member of Jurgen Klopp's team since he joined Liverpool from Southampton and has formed a deadly trio with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firminho.
He played a key roles as Liverpool won the UEFA Champiosn League in 2019.
His net worth is $42 million
8. Pierre-Emerick Emiliano François Aubameyang
The Gabonese star joined after a thrilling career at Dortmund which saw him win the Bundesliga top scorer joined Arsenal.
He is reportedly on £198,000 weekly wage which makes one of the highest paid players.
According to German newspaper Der Spiegel, he received a £2.26m Champions League bonus despite Arsenal finishing sixth last season and fifth this campaign in the Premier League.
According to Forbes Magazine his net worth is $41 million.
9. Michael Kojo Essien
Michael Essien started his career at Liberty Professionals in Ghana like Asamoah Gyan, before he pursued his career abroad.
He played for Bastia, before he was spotted by French giants Lyon. He won the French Footballer of the year in 2005 and was signed by Jose Mourinho to Chelsea.
Essien used to receive an annual salary of $4.7 million while playing for Chelsea and earned addition money including several bonuses and allowance he earned from the League, FA Cup and Champions League titles.
He currently plays for for Sabail in the Azerbaijan Premier League, as a midfielder as well as understudying as a coach.
He has also been capped for the Ghana national team more than 50 times.
10. Asamoah Gyan
Asamoah Gyan with a total worth of $31.5 million rated number 10 richest African footballer in 2020.
The Ghanaian who was born in November, 1985 made most of his money playing for Al Ain and Shanghai SIPG.
His deal from Al Ain to Shanghai SIPG was watering which saw him receive about $250,000 wage per week, which made him the highest paid African player around 2015.
Asamoah Gyan has had a successful career, despite not playing the for big clubs in Europe. He won the top scorer’s award in the UAE and more especially he had had a fabulous career at the international level.
He is Ghana’s all-time top scorer with 51 goals and he is also Africa’s greatest scorer at the FIFA Wprld Cup with six goals.
Asamoah Gyan currently plies his trade in India for NorthEast United.
The former Sunderland forward has several businesses in Ghana including an airline which is set to start operation.