Football is big business and the world’s best players are rewarded with huge wages and sponsorship deals.
Boots are just one of the avenues the biggest stars can explore, with manufacturers understandably keen to have their products shown to the world.
The world’s most high-profile players are all associated with a particular sports brand and proudly show off their boots to millions watching on television as well as their gigantic followings on social media.
Unsurprisingly, it is lucrative work if you can get it, with the top players pulling in big bucks just for wearing certain boots.
Here Mirror Football runs down the 10 top biggest boot deals.
10. Mohamed Salah – Adidas (£2.5m)
The Liverpool star is arguably the most in-form player in the world this season and Adidas are happy to pay to be associated with his brand.
Salah, who has also endorsed Pepsi and Vodafone in his native Egypt, wears the German manufacturer’s X18 football boot in a £2.5m-per-year deal.
9. Marco Verratti – Nike (£2.5m)
Verratti is only small, but he packs a punch, both on the pitch and in a commercial sense.
The Italian midfielder used to be signed up to Puma, but his deal expired in 2017 and, after wearing blacked out boots, he joined up with Nike.
The PSG man now sports Nike’s Hypervenom Phantom III boots.
8. Paul Pogba – Adidas (£3m)
Pogba moved from Juventus to Manchester United for a whopping £89m back in 2016 and immediately became a huge marketing tool.
The United midfielder is a big part of Adidas’ football advertising after signing a 10-year deal worth around £30m, which doesn’t expire till 2024.
7. Antoine Griezmann – Puma (£3.5m)
Griezmann became a certified megastar when he moved from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona in a deal worth around £108m back in 2019.
He was already a key part of Puma’s strategy by then, having extended his £3.5m-a-year boot deal with the German brand in 2015.
Puma are so happy with his ambassadorial role that they released a limited edition boot, called the Future 4.1 NETFIT Grizi and priced at £229, in 2019 to mark his 10-year anniversary with them.
6. Gareth Bale – Adidas (£4m)
He may not be a key member of the Real Madrid team anymore, but there was a time when Bale was one of the biggest stars in world football.
The Welsh forward used to be a marketing man’s dream, with EA Sports and Lucozade among the brands to be associated with him.
Adidas are also one of Bale’s sponsors and pay him around £4m per year to wear their boots when he does make it onto the pitch.
5. Mario Balotelli – Puma (£5m)
Balotelli, 31, is now plying his trade for Adana Demirspor, but back in 2014, he was one of the hottest prospects in Europe after breaking through at AC Milan.
When his Nike deal expired, Puma came in and gave him a 10-year deal worth £5m, which still has two years to run.
4. Kylian Mbappe – Nike (£14m)
Now things jump up a level, with Mbappe undeniably leading the pack of the next generation of world stars.
The 23-year-old forward looks likely to leave PSG for Real Madrid this summer and he will take with him the power of his Nike backing.
Nike fought hard to get his signature, landing a 10-year deal worth around £140m in 2019 after out-bidding rivals Adidas.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo – Nike (£15m)
Ronaldo is one of three athletes to have signed a lifetime agreement with Nike, alongside basketball stars Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
The 37-year-old may be approaching the swansong of his career, but his deal should tide him over when he eventually does retire, having netted him a reported £780m.
2. Lionel Messi – Adidas (£18m)
Messi is Adidas’ star signing and, like Ronaldo with Nike, has signed a lifetime contract with the German manufacturer.
The 34-year-old, who left Barcelona for PSG in the summer, has his own sub-brand of boots under the straightforward title of Adidas Messi.
His Adidas contract is thought to be worth around £18m per year – and is one of the reasons Messi is a billionaire.
1. Neymar – Puma (£23m)
Neymar’s deal doesn’t just dwarf PSG team-mate Messi and United’s Ronaldo – it puts him above all professional sportsmen.
That’s because the Brazilian made the call to drop Nike in 2020 in order to join rivals Puma, lured by the largest individual sponsorship contract in sports history.
It is not known how long the Puma deal lasts, but it is understood to be worth double what Nike were paying him.
