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How Oscar compares to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi among world’s highest paid footballers after move from Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG

OSCAR might be off to earn £500,000-a-week in China - but he's not even in the top FIVE earning players in the world.

The Brazilian is the latest South American to triple his earnings after landing a £60million switch from Chelsea.

 Oscar has been spotted wearing the Shanghai SIPG shirt after Chelsea agreed a deal for him to be sold
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Oscar has been spotted wearing the Shanghai SIPG shirt after Chelsea agreed a deal for him to be soldCredit: Shanghai Sipg

But that does not put 25-year-old Oscar in the top bracket.


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Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar make up the top three in the planet's best-paid footy stars.

Ronaldo, who won his fourth Ballon d'Or trophy ten days ago, takes home £52.6million a year before tax, that's over £1million a WEEK.

Messi is not far behind him, just under the million-a-week figure, while Neymar and Gareth Bale are also close in third and fourth.

The Chinese Super League might be on the up when paying the top players, but they still cannot match the spending power of the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, who thanks to their blockbuster telly contracts, can offer huge salaries.

 Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest earner in football pre-tax
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Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest earner in football pre-tax

Elsewhere on the list is Ezequiel Lavezzi, who moved from Paris Saint-Germain to Habe China Fortune.

Wayne Rooney is the highest British-based player on the list, with the Manchester United star taking home £19.9m a season, or £380,000 a week - but for how much longer will United stump up that much?

Yaya Toure is not far behind Rooney, raking in £17m a season, closely followed by Hulk, Luis Suarez, Eden Hazard and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Surprisingly there is no place for the likes of Sergio Aguero, Paul Pogba or Antoine Griezmann anywhere in the top 15.

 Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's best-paid footballer
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Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's best-paid footballerCredit: Getty Images
 Lionel Messi is not far behind Ronaldo as the second-highest earner
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Lionel Messi is not far behind Ronaldo as the second-highest earnerCredit: AP:Associated Press
 Neymar is the world's third-highest earner
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Neymar is the world's third-highest earnerCredit: Getty Images

Meanwhile for the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, who are both having a contract stand-off with Arsenal, they can only dream of being near the top, with £340,000-a-week deemed too much from Arsenal at the moment.

One thing is for certain though, in 12 months this list will look different once again, with players constantly being paid more and more and China's inflated wages driving up stars' salaries.

Who will be the next man to follow Ronaldo as the next £1m-a-week star?

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