The humongous salaries of mega-earners Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, and Romelu Lukaku are debated to an almost unhealthy level amongst pundits, fans, and no doubt other professional players. But, have you ever wondered who the most overpaid Premier League players are based on minutes played?
We thought so.
You’ve arrived in the right place as the nerds over in The Sportsman lab have done the maths to compile a list of the Premier League’s 10 most overpaid players from the current campaign.
Let’s take a look.
How have we crunched the numbers?
Before we reveal the findings we’ll take the briefest of moments to fill you in on how we conducted the research. The below findings are based on how much Premier League players have been paid per minute so far in the 2018/19 season. That’s from the opening weekend back in the hazy days of August (10th) through to the most recent wave of fixtures that came to a close on Monday 11th February.
We have deducted weekly wages from players for the weeks they've been out injured, then divided their collective earnings during the course of the campaign, and subsequently divided it by the minutes they've played in the Premier League this season.
It’s also important to note that for those players who left in the January transfer window, we have in turn deducted the weeks since they departed their respective clubs.
Revealed: The highest paid Premier League stars based on 2018/19 minutes played
Chelsea dominate the results with no fewer than three of their players in our top-10. We have Gary Cahill - remember him - 4th in the list, Davide Zappacosta in 5th, and Victor Moses in 7th.
The three Blues outcasts have barely featured under new boss Maurizio Sarri, with Cahill paid a staggering £123,810 for each of the 21 Premier League minutes he’s played so far this term. Chelsea have shelled out £101,111 to Zappacosta for each of his 18 minutes, and £66,346 to Moses - now on loan at Turkish outfit Fenerbahce - who has 26 minutes to his name.
All three players will surely be heading for the exit door in the summer, that’s unless they can impress a potential new manager, with Sarri’s position in the dugout looking increasingly untenable.
However, this Chelsea trio pales in comparison to Pape Souare (Crystal Palace) who has featured in only one Premier League game this season, for all of 60 seconds, for which he was paid a whopping £630,000. However, the Senegalese left-back was in a serious car crash back in 2016, while he’s also suffered from various injuries, including a dislocated shoulder last month during the club’s FA Cup success against Grimsby.
Second in the standings is another Eagles player in centre-back Scott Dann whose bank account has been bolstered by £480,000 for the one minute he sported a Crystal Palace shirt this term. The 32-year-old only recently returned from a year-long injury, and has featured in all three of Palace’s FA Cup clashes, plus the final moments of the 1-1 draw at Southampton in the league last month.
Tottenham winger Georges-Kevin N’koudou completes the top-three, bagging £218,750 for each of his four minutes of top-flight action. He’s now on loan at Monaco.
Who else features in the top-10?
Jermaine Defoe (6th), who was reportedly on a staggering £103,462 a week, earned £98,759 for every minute at Bournemouth, while he’s since darted out on loan to Rangers.
The Watford duo of Miguel Britos and Stefano Okaka feature in 8th and 10th. Britos has played 13 minutes, and Okaka 22, with the Hornets paying the players £50,00 and £33,409 respectively per minute.
9th in The Sportsman’s chart is perhaps a surprising one, in Sam Gallagher, who has pocketed £50,000 for each of the eight minutes he’s played for Southampton this season.
