Haaland earns £525,000 per week
Erling Haaland reportedly earns £525,000 per week at Manchester City, approximately £27.3 million annually, potentially doubling with sponsorships.
Snapshot · The Louis Theroux Podcast
S8 EP1: Gary Lineker on England’s losing streak, leaving the BBC, and his frosty relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo
Explore episode
Jun 8, 2026
Where this was said
Footballer Wages: From £16 a Week to £525,000
At 28:00 · chapter starts 27:55
Theroux uses Haaland as an entry point to discuss football's astronomical modern wages, noting the Manchester City striker reportedly earns £525,000 a week — £27.3 million a year, potentially doubling with sponsorships to £50 million. Lineker maps his own earnings across his career in response: £16 a week as a 16-year-old Leicester apprentice, rising to £100 a week in the first team, £400 a week when he moved to Everton, and ultimately around £325,000 a year at his Barcelona and Tottenham peak. That entire year's salary, he notes, was worth roughly four days of Haaland's weekly wage. The comparison is both funny and staggering, illustrating football's extraordinary economic transformation within a single generation. [1] — Gary Lineker "Lineker started as an apprentice at Leicester earning £16 a week, reached £325,000 a year at his Barcelona peak, and watched Haaland's repo…" 28:00
From £16 a Week to the World's Best-Paid Leagues
Lineker started as an apprentice at Leicester earning £16 a week, reached £325,000 a year at his Barcelona peak, and watched Haaland's reported salary dwarf that entire year in less than four days. The pay gap between eras is almost incomprehensible.
Lineker's peak salary ~£325k/year
At his peak at Barcelona and Tottenham, Lineker earned around £325,000 a year — roughly 4 days of Haaland's current salary.
£16 a week apprentice wage
Gary Lineker earned just £16 a week as a 16-year-old apprentice at Leicester City, with an extra £5 envelope for his mum.
Similar snapshots
CrossFit athlete: top 2,000 worldwide
Thomas's wife is already ranked in the top 2,000 CrossFit athletes in the world — roughly the top 1% — and Thomas wants her to pursue the sport professionally now that he is graduating law school.
Athletes improve with mental rehearsal
Research shows athletes who mentally imagine practicing basketball or soccer have better performance than those who do not include imagination in their training.
~10 rounds dominated vs Usyk
Rico Verhoeven dominated approximately 10 of 12 rounds against undisputed heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk before a controversial post-bell stoppage.
Stopped after the bell
Rico's appeal confirmed the fight was stopped after the bell rang, and the ringside doctor found no concussion or disorientation — yet the result was never overturned.
Glory uses 5 judges vs boxing's 3
Glory Kickboxing uses 5 judges rather than boxing's 3, which Joe Rogan argues reduces the chance of a corrupt or incompetent minority swinging the result.
1 professional boxing match before Usyk
Rico Verhoeven had only one professional boxing match before fighting undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC title.
15 years of boxing training
Despite having just one pro boxing match, Rico Verhoeven had been training boxing for 15 years alongside his kickboxing career.
6-month boxing transition camp
Rico used a full 6 months to transition from kickboxing stance to a proper boxing stance under trainer Peter Fury, calling it essential rewiring.
75+ kickboxing fights in career
Rico Verhoeven has had approximately 75 professional kickboxing fights, giving him a massive combat sports experience advantage over pure boxers.
