Italy's pay scale looks very different from Spain's or England's. The best-paid player in Serie A is Inter captain Lautaro Martínez, who averages about £275,000 a week across the pay trackers we checked, a little over half what Erling Haaland earns in England. Nicolò Barella is clearly second on £198,000, and then three players, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Kenan Yıldız and Kevin De Bruyne, bunch together on about £183,000. Inter supply three of the five names and Juventus and Napoli one each. These are estimates, not official figures, so we have averaged what several providers claim to give one clear ranking. Here is the list, how we reached it, and how each player is doing on our Serie A player pages.
The top 5 at a glance
| # | Player | Club | Average weekly pay | Range across providers | Yearly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lautaro Martínez | Inter | £274,800 | £273,500 to £277,000 | £14.3m |
| 2 | Nicolò Barella | Inter | £198,200 | £196,600 to £200,000 | £10.3m |
| 3 | Hakan Çalhanoğlu | Inter | £183,800 | £182,700 to £185,000 | £9.6m |
| 4 | Kenan Yıldız | Juventus | £183,600 | £182,700 to £184,000 | £9.5m |
| 5 | Kevin De Bruyne | Napoli | £183,200 | £182,000 to £185,000 | £9.5m |
How we worked this out
Clubs do not publish what they pay, so every number here is an estimate of gross fixed weekly pay: before bonuses, tax and image rights. We took the 2026-27 figures from Football Whispers (built on Capology data), SalaryLeaks and Salary Sport, converted euros to pounds at about €1 to £0.855, averaged each player's figures from the providers that list him, and ranked on that average. The range column shows the lowest and highest figure any provider gave. Yearly figures are the average multiplied by 52. Italian pay is often quoted after tax, which is why Calcio e Finanza's September ranking shows lower net figures (Lautaro €9 million a year, Çalhanoğlu and Barella €6.5 million, Yıldız €6 million, De Bruyne €5.5 million); it points the same way.
The providers agree closely here, so places three to five are separated by only about £600 a week. The order is still the average's: Çalhanoğlu, then Yıldız, then De Bruyne.
1. Lautaro Martínez, Inter
The Argentina striker is the Serie A pay leader on an average of £274,800 a week, which is about £14.3 million a year, and Football Whispers lists his Inter contract as running to 2029. His player page shows four league goals in four starts and 353 minutes this season, so the club's captain is repaying the wage at the rate you would hope for.
2. Nicolò Barella, Inter
Barella averages £198,200 a week (about £10.3 million a year) on a deal Football Whispers has running to 2029. The Italy midfielder is an engine-room player whose value shows less in goals than in the volume of work: his page shows 625 minutes from seven starts, one goal and two assists. That puts him about £14,000 a week ahead of the three players below him.
3. Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Inter
Çalhanoğlu averages £183,800 a week, about £9.6 million a year, with a contract Football Whispers lists to 2027. The Turkey midfielder has played 287 league minutes across four starts for Inter this season, and his page shows three goals, so he has scored roughly once every 96 minutes.
4. Kenan Yıldız, Juventus
Yıldız is the youngest of the five at 21, and Football Whispers lists his Juventus contract as the longest here, running to 2030. His average of £183,600 a week (£9.5 million a year) is an investment in the future as much as in the present: his player page shows only 69 league minutes this season, from a single start. He wears the club's No. 10 shirt.
5. Kevin De Bruyne, Napoli
De Bruyne is the oldest name here at 35. He averages £183,200 a week (about £9.5 million a year) at Napoli, with Football Whispers listing a contract to 2027. This season his player page shows three league goals and an assist from 468 minutes across eight starts, enough to confirm that the touch has not gone anywhere.
What the top 5 tells us
Two things stand out. First, Inter pay the most: three of the five and the top two places. Second, Serie A's best-paid player earns about £235,000 a week less than Haaland, so Italian clubs are competing for stars on a much smaller wage scale. Just outside the top five, Inter's Alessandro Bastoni averages £162,600 a week (providers range from £151,300 to £169,000).
For the next round of games, with odds, see our Serie A fixtures page, and our Serie A stats pages show who is scoring and creating the most.
Who is the highest-paid Serie A player?
Inter's Lautaro Martínez, on an average estimate of £274,800 a week, about £14.3 million a year before tax. After tax, Calcio e Finanza puts him on about €9 million a year.
Who is the highest-paid Serie A player after Lautaro?
Nicolò Barella of Inter, on an average estimate of £198,200 a week, followed by Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Kenan Yıldız and Kevin De Bruyne, who are all within £600 a week of each other.
More highest-paid lists
See who tops the pay table in the other leagues: Highest-paid Premier League players, Highest-paid La Liga players, Highest-paid Bundesliga players, Highest-paid Ligue 1 players, Highest-paid Saudi Pro League players, Highest-paid MLS players. For all five of Europe's biggest leagues in one list, read our top 10 highest-paid footballers in Europe.
Photo credits
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons and have been cropped and resized by TotalOdds. Lautaro Martínez: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source; Nicolò Barella: MichaelEmilio, CC BY 4.0, source; Hakan Çalhanoğlu: Steindy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source; Kevin De Bruyne: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0, source.
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