Carlos Tevez Isn't Football's Highest Paid Player After All

We aren't expecting Carlos Tevez to be asking his mates to lend him money so he can join them for a couple of pints but it turns out that the Shanghai Shenhua striker isn't actually the highest paid player in the world.

The Chinese Super League has spent the last 15 months picking up plenty of South America's top talent and handing them extraordinary wages as compensation for not playing in one of the world's best leagues.

Tevez returned to Argentina from Europe in 2015 but after two and a half seasons back at home, the home he refused to play for Manchester City in order to move closer to, he took the huge wages on offer in the Far East.

Tevez

_{Who gets out of bed for anything less than £700k-a-week? Image: Shanghai Shenhua}

It has been thought that his move to Shanghai had made him the best paid player in the world, quickly unseating for Chelsea midfielder Oscar in the process, but according to the latest leaks that's not the case.

Upcoming German book Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football reveals that Tevez' mere £634,615-a-week pales in comparison to his fellow Argentinian Ezequiel Lavezzi who takes home £798k every single week!

_{It's easy to be happy when you're Lavezzi and you've just checked your bank balance. PA Images}

Lavezzi fittingly plays for Hebei China Fortune, who should be just called Hebei China as they've clearly given their forward a fortune (No, you say sorry), and the club pay him £41.5 million-per-year!

The 32 year old moved east earlier last year. After a stint playing second fiddle to Zlatan Ibrahimovic at PSG the Argentine moved to the CSL last season but has scored just twice in his first 16 appearances from this season and last.

_{Oscar was never the highest paid player in the world apparently. PA Images}

And it turns out that Oscar isn't even the third best paid player in the world after all as Cristiano Ronaldo sits between Tevez and the Brazilian on the world's best paid list.

Ronaldo is in third, behind Lavezzi and Tevez, taking home a not too shoddy £424,615-a-week. Oscar will also struggle to spend all of his wages every week on £400k whilst Lionel Messi rounds out the top five on a meager £362,480 every seven days.

How is Lavezzi the best paid player in the world?!

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

@Sidler28