Real Madrid and Barcelona rank in Europe’s top five for wage bills – separated by €29m | OneFootball

It is no surprise that Real Madrid and Barcelona are amongst the top sides in Europe when it comes to the total wage bills at each club. Los Blancos and Barcelona switched places in terms of their spending on wages last year.

Since the latter stages of Josep Maria Bartomeu’s presidency at Barcelona, the wage bill has been an issue, and Joan Laporta’s tenure has been defined by trying to balance their wage bill against their salary limit, while remaining competitive. In some years their wage bill eclipsed €700m, and was responsible for more than 70% of the club’s turnover.

However in recent years Barcelona have managed to reduce that number slowly, although it has been combined with boom and bust spending in recent years too. Last season it was at €476m, as per Marca, who take their information from a UEFA report. Meanwhile Real Madrid were spending €29m more, at €505m.

Image via Marca / Martina Gil

These figures came attached with a warning from the UEFA report, who note that some of the sides in the top divisions in La Liga are spending too much of their turnover on wages. In Belgium and Turkey, wages account for 86% and 88% of turnover spending, while in Greece the figure is at an eye-watering 98%.

Four clubs reported operating losses of more than €50m during the 2023-24 campaign, including Paris Saint-Germain, who spend the most on wages of anyone, Chelsea, Ajax and Olympique Lyon. On the other hand Real Madrid were among the eight clubs that reported an operating profit of over €50m, alongside Manchester United and Arsenal.

Since these figures have been released, Dani Olmo, Pau Victor, Kylian Mbappe and Endrick Felipe have arrived in La Liga, with the Frenchman’s salary likely to contribute to a significant increase next year. Barcelona will be hoping to again reduce their total, but have handed out several new deals to Ronald Araujo, Pedri and Gavi.