Ribery is best paid player in Bundesliga: Bild

BERLIN (AFP) – Bayern Munich’s France midfielder Franck Ribery is the best paid player in the Bundesliga with a gross salary of 833,000 euros per month, German daily newspaper Bild reported on Saturday.

The 27-year-old has extended his contract until 2015 and is better paid even than veteran Spain striker Raul who earns 600,000 euros per month and is the second highest paid player.

Third place is shared by the pair battling for the captaincy of the Germany squad, Bayern defender Philipp Lahm and Michael Ballack back in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, whose salaries are 583,000 euros each.

The rankings do not include the salaries of Bayern trio Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben and Mark van Bommel, who must all earn around the same figure as Lahm.

Among the coaches, Bayern coach Louis van Gaal earns 333,000 euros, but he is beaten by Schalke 04’s Felix Magath who combines the roles of coach and general manager and earns 458,000 euros per month.

According to Bild, German league and cup holders Bayern Munich spend 90 million euros per season on paying their players.

Second is Wolfsburg who pay their players 70 million euros and Schalke who pay out 60 million euros per year.

Newly-promoted Kaiserslautern have a wage bill of just 13.5 million euros.