67 Hail Hail’s finance expert Adam Williams has suggested that Brendan Rodgers may have quadrupled his Celtic salary at new club Al Qadsiah.
Rodgers was confirmed by Qadsiah after almost two months out of work following his resignation as Celtic manager.
There will be lots of pressure on the job, with Rodgers saying he expects to challenge for the league title in Saudi Arabia.
He joins during an era where clubs in the Middle East are spending more than ever to lure players away from the best European leagues and compete on a global front.
There are some eye-watering salaries being offered by clubs in the Saudi Pro League, which means that the Northern Irishman is likely to be earning a huge payday.
What do you make of Brendan Rodgers’ new job after leaving Celtic?
How much Brendan Rodgers is reportedly earning at Al Qadsiah
Williams has acknowledged that Saudi Pro League clubs have no obligation to release their financial accounts like clubs in the UK.
This means that media reports are the most reliable source, but it seems that Rodgers is in line for a huge pay day in comparison to what he was earning with Celtic.
“At Celtic the second time around, it was said that he earned around £4m annually. That broadly tallies with the wage bill, which was £75m last season across all players and staff,” he explained to 67 Hail Hail.
“In Saudi Arabia, you would expect that he will have got a chunky pay rise. What the Pro League lacks in prestige, it makes up for in outsized salaries. There are reports of the likes of Inzaghi earning £20m-plus there. Clearly, that is at the higher end of the spectrum, but I’d conservatively say Rodgers will be on at least, say, £8m annually. I’d say Nuno Espirito Santo is a manager of roughly equivalent experience and name recognition, and that is about what he was on. As always, that figure will be split between fixed and variable pay, with bonuses for performance, loyalty and so on.
How many more games are you going to give Wilfried Nancy?
“The main advantage, however, is that Rodgers won’t pay any tax in Saudi Arabia. He should qualify for split-year treatment, I believe, so he will get the entirety of that £8m-ish salary, whereas he would have been paying 48 per cent in Scotland.
“So, for all intents and purposes, he will have effectively quadrupled what he earned at Celtic. Again, the numbers I’m using are illustrative only, but the same principle will apply regardless of what the specific contract details are.”
How does Brendan Rodgers’ salary compare to Wilfried Nancy’s?
Given the nature of the Saudi salaries, it’s fair to say that the current Celtic manager will not be earning the same.
We know that it would cost Celtic roughly £5m to sack Wilfried Nancy due to the length of his contract.
If that was to be the case, it means he could be earning anywhere between £1.5m and £2m, which is a huge step down from what his predecessor was earning at the Hoops, as well as what Rodgers is earning now.
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