Chapter 676 - 127: Transforming Arsenal! The Curse of the No. 9 Jersey! The Highest Signing Bonus in History and the World’s Highest Salary

That’s right, 60 million British Pounds.

It was, without a doubt, the highest signing bonus in history!

However, the money was to be paid over four years, which meant an annual payment of 15 million British Pounds.

In Europe, player salaries are paid by the clubs, so taxes are deducted at the source.

Many stars’ tax issues stem more from things like image rights and bonuses.

In February of ’11, many players from Manchester United and Chelsea were embroiled in tax evasion issues and investigated by the UK’s Royal Revenue and Customs Bureau, with the focus being on image rights.

For example, fees from commercial activities, commissions from jersey sales, and so on.

Players usually set up a company, and the club pays the money directly to that company.

If a player wants to withdraw money from this company, they have to pay a 28% tax. But if they take it out as a loan, it’s only 2%.

The biggest news this time was that Rooney had "borrowed" 1.6 million British Pounds over the past two years, saving 600,000 in taxes.

After being investigated, Rooney immediately paid it back.

Wang Shuo, of course, also had his own company, but it wasn’t in Europe. It was back home in China.

’Since I have to pay taxes anyway, I might as well pay them to my motherland!’

Wang Shuo’s commercial sponsorships and image rights income were almost all processed through his Chinese company. The finances were entrusted to a reputable accounting firm in China, and not a single cent of the required taxes was missed.

He might have paid more, but it was worry-free and hassle-free.

As for personal income tax, Dortmund had deducted it in Germany. Now in the United Kingdom, Arsenal would naturally be the one to deduct it. There was no escaping it.

But after paying taxes in the United Kingdom and Germany, when he transferred the money back to his personal account in China, he basically didn’t have to pay taxes on it again.

He just needed to show proof that the taxes were already paid.

Shen Qinghe and Chen Jialin handled all of this. Wang Shuo was barely involved.

Considering his previous contract with Dortmund was for 8 million euros before tax, Wang Shuo negotiated his deal with Arsenal directly in after-tax figures. This was actually a common practice for many big-name stars.

’I don’t want to talk about all that fluff. I just want to know how much money I’m taking home.’

Wang Shuo was now earning an after-tax weekly salary of 300,000 British Pounds.

With 52 weeks in a year, that amounted to an after-tax annual salary of about 15.6 million British Pounds, or 17.1 million euros.

Previously, authoritative media outlets had reported on the European Football Scene’s player income rankings. Ronaldo was at 12 million euros after tax.

Rooney was at 11.5 million euros after tax.

Messi and Manchester City’s Yaya Toure were both around 11 million euros.

When negotiating with Arsenal, Wang Shuo had used British Pounds.

Shen Qinghe believed that the current pound-to-euro exchange rate of 1.1 was on the low side. So, by pricing the contract in pounds now and negotiating a better price, Wang Shuo would get more money in the long run when the pound appreciated.

For example, at a 1.1 exchange rate, his salary was 17.1 million euros. What if it returned to 1.3?

That would be 20.28 million euros.

And that didn’t even include other things like championship bonuses, appearance fees, or goal bonuses.

It was like last season. At Dortmund, Wang Shuo’s salary was 8 million euros before tax, which came out to 4 million euros after tax.

But in reality, once you factored in goal bonuses, championship bonuses, and appearance fees, his actual take-home pay was closer to 8 million euros.

Furthermore, there was another clause in Wang Shuo’s contract: Arsenal had to ensure that for the duration of the contract, he would always have the highest salary in the Premier League.

In other words, if someone’s salary surpassed Wang Shuo’s, then it was time to renegotiate!

This was also a way to defend Wang Shuo’s status as the top star of the Premier League.

"By the way, has Neven come over yet?" Wang Shuo thought of his close friend.

"He came by once to look at some houses, then went back," Thomas Essien replied.

"Where did he choose?"

"Near Colney. He’s planning to rent a country villa."

Wang Shuo nodded.

Although he didn’t know Subotic’s exact weekly salary, he estimated it was probably around 100,000 British Pounds after tax.

And his transfer fee of 18 million euros was really quite high for the Bundesliga!

At least Dortmund was quite satisfied with it.

For comparison, Bayer Leverkusen’s core midfielder, Vidal, transferred to Juventus for a fee of 10.5 million euros.

Schalke 04’s German National Goalkeeper, Neuer, transferred to Bayern for a fee of 22 million euros.

Another one of Wang Shuo’s friends, Andre Schürrle, had already been selected for the Germany National Team and had a very impressive record in the Bundesliga. His transfer from Mainz to Bayer Leverkusen was only 8 million euros.

In terms of center-backs, Hamburg’s Dutch international center-back Mathijsen transferred to La Liga’s Malaga for 2.5 million euros.

Frankfurt’s main center-back, Russ, transferred to VfL Wolfsburg for a fee of 3 million euros.

So far this season, there had been very few transfers in the Bundesliga exceeding the ten-million-euro mark.

Besides Wang Shuo and Subotic from Dortmund, Shahin’s transfer was exactly 10 million euros.

Add Neuer and Vidal to that list, and that was it.

The Bundesliga nowadays just didn’t have much purchasing power, and it was hard for players to command high values.

This was also why, despite Wang Shuo’s outstanding performance in the Bundesliga, he was still questioned by so many people.

If it weren’t for winning the Champions League last season, he would never have gotten a contract like his current one.

And Subotic’s 18-million-euro transfer fee was already considered very high for a Bundesliga defender.

The transfer market was treacherous and unpredictable, and transfer fees never followed any set rules.

It was like this season, when everyone knew there was a shortage of goalkeepers.

Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern, and even Real Madrid and Barça were all looking for a goalkeeper.

But goalkeepers just couldn’t sell for a high price!

Why?

Because Manchester United, the club with the most purchasing power, was too stingy to pay up!