Erling Haaland could demand £30m-a-year to join new club

The best talents and top performers in the world earn the biggest bucks. According to Forbes, Lionel Messi and Neymar, both plying their trade with Paris Saint-Germain, are the players with the highest salaries in the world. Both players receive £54 million per annum, which comes to around £1.05 million per week.

Ronaldo is not far behind as well. It is the pantheon of the big boys that even the prodigiously talented Kylian Mbappe is yet to crack. The young Frenchman commands a salary of about a third of what the top three earn.

One player has consistently shone on the continent and is ready to take the next big step. Erling Haaland has shown that he has talent that demands fees that put him in the bracket of the top players. He has consistently put up displays over the past seasons that belied his age.

At £141,000 per week, £7,332,000 per year, Haaland is far off the top earners in world football.

Haaland to demand a bumper pay rise

Over the past couple of seasons, Haaland has shown that he can hold his own anywhere as he constantly bangs in the goals for club and country. He, however, does not earn anywhere near what his talents demand.

According to ESPN's Mark Ogden, the Danish star could demand £30 million per annum if he moves away from Borussia Dortmund. With several top clubs already sniffing around the player, the move will inevitably happen soon.

It is a message to interested clubs that Haaland is not averse to leaving Dortmund, but the Norwegian player wants a salary that will earn him over £500,000 a week.

The new figures demanded by Haaland and his camp will jump him into the top five salary earners in the game, behind only Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo and Iniesta.

Balancing the books

There is a release clause in Haaland's contract with Dortmund that allows Haaland to leave the club for a reasonable fee. According to Ogden, the Norwegian will be available for a figure of around €75 million. 

Haaland has the second-highest valuation on Transfermarkt. He stands just behind Frenchman Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain.

The transfer fee is just a fraction of the cash needed to take Haaland away from Dortmund. His current status puts him in a position where he can demand a salary that puts him in the pantheon of highest-paid players. Ogden reports that a "significant payment" added to the transfer fee would go toward Haaland's representatives.

If winning titles or making more money is a motivation for Haaland, then Dortmund is the wrong place to be. With the way Bayern Munich rips the opposition of talent, he will need to leave Germany to achieve those goals.