Riyad Mahrez’s Saudi Pro League wages compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema & Al Ahli teammates

It would be unfair to say that Riyad Mahrez has expensive taste.

While he was leading Leicester City to the unlikeliest of Premier League titles, the fleet-footed winger was a regular in Suez Canal Barbers where one haircut would have set you back £8.

Mahrez will do well to find the same bargain in Saudi Arabia but the ridiculous wage Al Ahli have reportedly agreed to pay the five-time Premier League winner should allow him to splash out a bit more when it comes to the scissors – and anything else for that matter.

Here’s how much Mahrez stands to earn and how it compares to other stars in the Saudi Pro League after Manchester City confirmed his departure.

There are not many points in history when a newly-promoted team in one of the world’s less heralded leagues has been able to poach a player from a side that just won the European Treble. However, the riches that Al Ahli – one of four clubs owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – have to offer, have proven to be too persuasive to resist.

90min have reported that Mahrez is expected to earn a sickening £45m per year. That is the equivalent of roughly £865,000 per week and more than £123,000 a day.

Mahrez could afford to buy every person in Leicester a haircut from his old haunt with just three weeks’ worth of wages.

During Manchester City‘s historic campaign last season, Mahrez was one of only two players to hit double digits for goals and assists across all competitions. Kevin De Bruyne was the only other treble-winner to achieve that feat and stands as the squad’s best-paid player (before Erling Haaland’s bonuses are considered) on £400,000 per week.

Mahrez took home around £160,000 per week before tax, which may be considerably less than De Bruyne but was about average when compared to the rest of his colleagues at City.

READ MORE ON THE PLAYERS LINKED TO SAUDI ARABIA & THE MONEY ON OFFER

Rather than the financial might of a state sports-washing its blood-stained reputation with endless piles of money, it was Cristiano Ronaldo’s decision to join Al Nassr last December that sparked the influx of stars to the Saudi Pro League – or so says Ronaldo himself.

“I opened the way to the Saudi league,” the 38-year-old declared in July, “and now all the players are coming here.”

As his reward for prising open the gateway to a league that has been attracting over-the-hill stars for decades, Ronaldo earns an eye-watering £177m each year – almost four times as much as Mahrez.

If Ronaldo was the most high-profile acquisition at the start of the modern exodus to Saudi, Karim Benzema has hogged most of the headlines this summer.

While Ronaldo’s best years are firmly behind him, Benzema is the reigning Ballon d’Or holder. Incidentally, Mahrez finished 12th in the vote last year, eight places above Ronaldo.

Benzema may be closer to his prime than his former Real Madrid teammate but he earns slightly less than Ronaldo. Although, a reported £172m per year is nothing to sniff at. For comparison, Atletico Madrid’s estimated annual wage bill for the entire squad in 2022/23 was £130m.

One of Benzema’s new teammates at Al Ittihad is N’Golo Kante. The Frenchman became close friends with Mahrez during their time at Leicester City and the pair would go to Suez Canal Barbers together, often charming their way to a two-for-one deal. Kante now stands to earn £21.5m (2.6m haircuts) per season across his four-year deal with the Tigers.

Al Ahli may have spent the 2022/23 campaign in the Saudi second tier, but that hasn’t stopped the PIF-backed outfit from joining the division-wide celebrity recruitment drive.

The FD League champions coughed up £16m for former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy at the end of June. The 2021 Champions League winner – when he kept a clean sheet against Mahrez’s Manchester City in the final – is thought to be entitled to an annual salary of around £9.4m, more than triple his wage at Chelsea last season.

Roberto Firmino surprised Jurgen Klopp by abruptly concluding talks about a contract extension at Liverpool. After hanging in limbo for several weeks once it became clear he would be a free agent this summer, Firmino agreed a three-year deal at Al Ahli. The Brazilian is expected to rake in as much as £17m per year.

Firmino may have doubled his wages but he still earns roughly a third of what Mahrez has supposedly been entitled to.

Unsurprisingly, this Champions League-winning trio are Al Ahli’s highest earners by a considerable margin. Former Leeds United fullback Ezgjan Alioski is next in line on the salary list but ‘only’ takes home £2.2m each year.

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