11 Brasileirão stars who earn more than Italian Serie A players

Leandro Damião or Luca Toni? Dracena or Glik? The choice is yours.

The Brazilian football market has been inflated — the elite teams’ payrolls prove it. Most squads spend more than 85% of their revenues paying salaries, bonuses and rewards. Of course it’s a significant problem.

As all the money is spent on wages, this leaves limited resources for transfers, youth level investments and infrastructure improvements.

For comparison, many Brasileirão players have been earning higher salaries than Italian Serie A professionals. However, Serie A makes more than US$1,62 billion per year with TV contracts, while Brasileirão will reach a record US$0,36 billion deal in 2016.

This Brazilian wage bubble allows Fluminense to spend 7.9% of their annual revenue paying Fred’s salary. It may seem little money, but the club has to pay further 40 professional athletes, as well as more than 800 employees.

Let’s find out 11 Brasileirão stars who earn more than Serie A players — keeping in mind that R$1 is now worth less than ‎€0.25. The Brazilian wages data were gathered in Brazil. The Italian ones were published by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

1. Rogério Ceni (GK, São Paulo)

Monthly salary: $182,000
Serie A contender: Federico Marchetti (Lazio, $102,000)

Ceni has produced 131 goals so far. He’s committed to retire in December, aged 42, but still has São Paulo’s biggest paycheck. This year he’s facing some injuries and — maybe stepping forward to the retirement — his belly grew slightly. Anyway, with Ceni’s salary it’d possible to afford Lazio’s Marchetti, Torino’s Padelli or Napoli’s Gabriel. Which one would you choose?

2. Dedé (CB, Cruzeiro)

Monthly salary: $104,000
Serie A contender: Stefan De Vrij (Lazio, $84,000)

It wasn’t possible building a whole team without putting a couple of centre-backs on the right side: Dedé and De Vrij. The Brazilian defender — an AC Milan former target — blew out his knee and doesn’t play since November 2014. The Dutchman was the best Serie A defender last season. An easy choice.

3. Réver (CB, Internacional)

Monthly salary: $156,000
Serie A contender: Jeison Murillo (Inter Milan, $121,000)

Believe it or not, Réver is a backup man in Porto Alegre, despite the nonsense wage he gets. The 30-year-old defender lifted the Libertadores in 2013 as one of those fascinating centre-backs best known for scoring goals than avoiding them. Murillo is far more reliable than him. The Inter Milan new signing has already established himself as a Colombian national team first pick.

4. Edu Dracena (CB, Corinthians)

Monthly salary: $91,000
Serie A contender: Kamil Glik (Torino, $51,000)

Last month, some teams offered up to $15 million trying to persuade Torino to sell their 27-year-old captain. An offer like that have never reached Edu Dracena, a hardworking centre-back with some blurry seasons for Olympiacos and Fenerbahçe. The Corinthians leader does an honest work in the field, of course, but there are many players just like him out there.

5. Egídio (LB, Palmeiras)

Monthly salary: $78,000
Serie A contender: Achraf Lazaar (Palermo, $28,000)

Let’s face it, no other Brasileirão full-back completes so many crosses as Egídio, but he often shows defensive troubles. Part of Palmeiras’ fans have already lost patience with him because of these issues. And about Lazaar… Well, both Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain tried to sign the young Moroccan left-back last transfer window, nearly doubling his market value.

6. Nilton (DM, Internacional)

Monthly salary: $117,000
Serie A contender: Seydou Keita (Roma, $93,000)

Since Internacional set Argel Fucks as their new coach, Nilton has reemerged as a willful and obstinate player who destroys the opponent attacks while tries to be useful as playmaker. He’s also decent heading and finishing, but nothing more. On the other hand, Keita is the most reliable Roma midfielder, serving even as captain when Totti and De Rossi don’t play.

7. Cristian (DM, Corinthians)

Monthly salary: $132,000
Serie A contender: Jorginho (Napoli, $56,000)

The former Fenerbahçe midfielder is the highest-paid Corinthians player and has an agreement until December 2017. It was a reckless investment for a 32-year-old athlete. Cristian played just 18 games in 2015 — a few times starting, every time playing poorly. Napoli’s Jorginho, aged 23, has a decade to come and has already proved more quality than his “contender”.

8. Alex (AM, Internacional)

Monthly salary: $117,000
Serie A contender: Felipe Anderson (Lazio, $112,000)

Yes, the Internacional idol earns slightly more than a Brazilian youngster linked to a $40 million move to Manchester United. Yes, Alex scored his last goal on April 19, while Felipe Anderson has dragged Lazio to the Uefa Champions League last season. Yes, this world is unfair.

9. Ronaldinho (AM, Fluminense)

Monthly salary: $104,000
Serie A contender: Diego Perotti (Genoa, $65,000)

Ronaldinho is no more the same from Barcelona times. Only Fluminense has believed that he could still play at a high level, but the real world is tough — since his return to Brazil, R10 played five times, however didn’t score or give any assist. Meanwhile, Perotti was Genoa’s best player last season in Serie A, can play with both feet and does a decent defense work.

10. Vagner Love (CF, Corinthians)

Monthly salary: $130,000
Serie A contender: Éder (Sampdoria, $84,000)

There’s no better player this Serie A season than Éder, who scored four times and assisted for a goal in only two appearances. On August’s last day, Sampdoria refused a $10 million offer for him. Due to his technical skills, it would be disloyal comparing him with the current Vagner Love.

11. Leandro Damião (CF, Cruzeiro)

Monthly salary: $177,000
Serie A contender: Luca Toni (Verona, $107,000)

Leandro Damião scored two times on current Brasileirão season. Last season, he got five goals. But believe me: he’s a striker. Or should be one. Luca Toni needs no introduction, particularly leading smaller teams. In Verona, the 38-year-old forward is an already a king — in the last two seasons, he scored 45 goals.

Bonus track

Or “Other Italian Serie A bargains”

• Keita Baldé Diao (CF, Lazio, $46,000)
• Nicolás Burdisso (CB, Genoa, $56,000)
• Antonio Cassano (CF, Sampdoria, $65,000)
• Daniele Rugani (CB, Juventus, $79,000)
• Alberto Gilardino (CF, Palermo, $84,000)
• Emanuele Giaccherini (CM, Bologna, $93,000)
• Alex Telles (LB, Inter Milan, $93,000)

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