Football Leaks book review: Mind-boggling revelations and absurd figures make this book a sobering read

  • Sportsmail has revealed some of football's astronomical financial figures 
  • Seeing contracts of Cristiano Ronaldo and Co in black and white is mind-blowing
  • The great strength of this book is on almost every page, a fresh nugget jumps out
  • Didier Drogba's £25m salary at Shanghai Shenhua is just one of the revelations 
  • How can ordinary people be expected to believe in the fairness of the system?

Even for those of us well versed in the absurd figures football generates, Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football, has been a sobering read.

The £41million for Paul Pogba's agent to take him to Manchester United; £367,640 a week before bonuses for Zlatan Ibrahimovic; the £21m-a -year annual salary after tax for Carlos Tevez.

Seeing the contracts in black and white — £920,000 to Cristiano Ronaldo for four and a half hour's work from a Saudi telecoms firm — is mind-boggling.

FIFA are investigating the transfer of Paul Pogba to Manchester United from Juventus 

FIFA are investigating the transfer of Paul Pogba to Manchester United from Juventus 

The news comes in the wake of Sportsmail's revelations that Mino Raiola will pocket £41m

The news comes in the wake of Sportsmail's revelations that Mino Raiola will pocket £41m

That is the great strength of this book, published only in German at present. It is a collaboration between Rafael Buschmann and Michael Wulzinger from German magazine Der Spiegel and the secretive Football Leaks website, which was launched in September 2015 and has been wreaking havoc among footballing superstars by publishing confidential documents on its website.


On almost every page, a fresh nugget jumps out, whether it be the £25m salary paid to Didier Drogba at Shanghai Shenhua or the £143,000 a goal Ibrahimovic received if he hit between 16-20 goals for United this season. 

It's the extraordinary figures which make the book compelling but you suspect the real impact is yet to be felt.

The complex web of companies used to house these fees provides the real insight into the super rich. Companies and accounts, often managed by agents, trustees and relatives, are spread across Panama, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, Uruguay and Switzerland.

The £25m salary paid to Didier Drogba at Shanghai Shenhua is one of the staggering figures

The £25m salary paid to Didier Drogba at Shanghai Shenhua is one of the staggering figures

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been revealed to have incredible goal bonuses in his contract

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been revealed to have incredible goal bonuses in his contract

Many of these will be perfectly legal devices to minimise tax. But when global superstars can head for the least-demanding tax havens, how can ordinary people, with no access to off-shore accounts, be expected to believe in the fairness of the system? It's a question football will need to answer.

Traditionally, football was the working-man's sport. Today, an upsurge of female fans, gentrification and globalisation means that is no longer the case. 

One day, the chasm between a reasonably well-paid citizen and a global superstar might turn a generation away from football, especially in times of austerity. At present, it seems not.

Raiola is pictured with another of his clients, Nice's former Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli

Raiola is pictured with another of his clients, Nice's former Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli

 

Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football, by Rafael Buschmann and Michael Wulzinger was published on Thursday by Der Spiegel.