Juventus again has the highest payroll in Serie A — and it’s not even close

To say that Juventus has spent a lot of money in recent years is not something that would blow you away if you’ve paid any kind of attention to what’s been going on in Turin. The best team Serie A has to offer has opened up their wallets and spent big to both acquire one of the best players the sport has ever seen as well as keep a strong core around him.

And it’s no different this year.

Juventus has, once again, taken the top spot in La Gazzetta dello Sport’s annual club salary reveal. And, of course, it’s no surprise that they have some of the highest paid players in the league, with Cristiano Ronaldo and summer signing Matthijs de Ligt leading the list.

How much are Juve spending on salaries this season?

Well, let’s just say that the team that has the second-highest payroll in Serie A, Inter Milan, has a gross payroll that is more than half of what Juventus is spending on salaries this season. The rankings in full:

1. Juventus (€294m)

2. Inter (€139m)

3. Roma (€125m)

4. Milan (€115m)

5. Napoli (€103m)

6. Lazio (€72m)

7. Torino (€54m)

8. Fiorentina (€50m)

9. Cagliari (€44m)

10. Bologna (€41m)

11. Genoa (€40m)

12. Sampdoria (€36m)

13. Atalanta (€36m)

14. Sassuolo (€35m)

15. Lecce (€32m)

16. Parma (€31m)

17. SPAL (€30m)

18. Udinese (€30m)

19. Brescia (€28m)

20. Verona (€25m)

(Source: Football Italia, via Gazzetta dello Sport)

And the top net individual salaries:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, €31m)*

2. Matthijs De Ligt (Juventus, €8m + €4m)

3. Romelu Lukaku (Inter, €7.5 + €1.5m)

4. Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus, €7.5m)

5. Paulo Dybala (Juventus, €7.3m)

6. Adrien Rabiot (Juventus, €7m + €2m)

7. Aaron Ramsey (Juventus, €7m)

8. Miralem Pjanic (Juventus, €6.5m)

9. Douglas Costa [Juventus, €6m)

10. Mario Mandzukic (Juventus, €6m)

11. Sami Khedira (Juventus, €6m)

12. Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan, €6m)

13. Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli, €6m)

14. Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus, €5.5m)

15. Edin Dzeko (Roma, €5m + €1m)

16. Diego Godin (Inter, €5 + €1m)

17. Alex Sandro (Juventus, €5m)

18. Emre Can (Juventus, €5m)

19. Alexis Sanchez (Inter, €5m)

20. Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli, € 4.6m)

(Source: Football Italia, via Gazzetta dello Sport)

As you can see, there’s a whole lot of Juventus players in the top 20 salaries in Serie A. Of those 20, over half are ones who wear bianconero this season. And of the top 10, only one — new Inter striker Romelu Lukaku — doesn’t play for Juventus.

And seeing what names are in the top 10 or 15, there could very well be a good explanation as to why some players that were linked with exits during the summer transfer window were rather difficult to unload (as well as why they might have wanted to stay right where they are).

And yes, it’s also quite noticeable that the league’s highest-paid player, Ronaldo, makes more in one season than nearly a quarter of the league spends on its entire payroll.

So, yeah, Juventus has spent money on both transfer fees and player salaries like we’ve never seen before. There’s obviously a whole lot of cash coming in right now, too, but with the addition of Ronaldo and the goal to at least try to win the Champions League now more prevalent than it has been at any other time during Andrea Agnelli’s tenure as club president, Juventus’ bank accounts are seeing quite a bit of cash head out just as they rake in millions or euros through their various income sources.