At least this season ended on a positive note. And yes, I'm intentionally posting this before the outcome of the FA cup. Barcelona not only beat ManUtd to such an extent that I laughed uproariously every time I read the headlines* but also curb-stomped Chelsea fans in the round before. I laughed hysterically as Ballack did the, "not touching. not touching. not touching." routine we all did as children. Just 10 more Chelsea and you'll join Arsenal in the devastatingly bad calls club. Current members, 1.So with the off-season approaching, TLOCA asks, is a player's salary associated with that player's value as a soccer player. Or another way of thinking about that is, can my manager buy the best squad if it were possible.
We took the top 50 highest paid players last year and ranked them based on their performance that year. We only considered those top 50 paid players so the rankings are relative. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo clearly had the best year last year but was the 10th highest paid player. Shevchenko was ahead of him at 9th...
Anyway, here are the results in order of highest salary
| Nome | Clube | Annual in $ | Jim's rating | Juan's rating | |
| 1 | Ricardo Kaka | AC Milan | $11,514,600 | 12 | 4 |
| 2 | Ronaldinho Gaucho | FC Barcelona | $10,900,488 | 24 | 17 |
| 3 | Frank Lampard | Chelsea FC | $10,439,904 | 8 | 18 |
| 4 | John Terry | Chelsea FC | $10,439,904 | 16 | 12 |
| 5 | Thierry Henry | FC Barcelona | $10,317,082 | 34 | 32 |
| 6 | Fernando Torres | Liverpool FC | $10,132,848 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | Michael Ballack | Chelsea FC | $9,979,320 | 17 | 19 |
| 8 | Andriy Shevchenko | Chelsea FC | $9,979,320 | 49 | 50 |
| 9 | Steven Gerrard | Liverpool FC | $9,825,792 | 7 | 9 |
| 10 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester Utd | $9,825,792 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Didier Drogba | Chelsea FC | $9,441,972 | 30 | 13 |
| 12 | Wayne Rooney | Manchester Utd | $9,365,208 | 18 | 29 |
| 13 | Iker Casillas | CF Real Madrid | $9,211,680 | 4 | 14 |
| 14 | Michael Owen | Newcastle Utd | $8,597,568 | 35 | 47 |
| 15 | Sol Campbell | Portsmouth | $8,444,040 | 42 | 33 |
| 16 | Ruud Van Nistelrooy | CF Real Madrid | $8,213,748 | 21 | 28 |
| 17 | Raul Gonzalez | CF Real Madrid | $8,213,748 | 31 | 31 |
| 18 | Rio Ferdinand | Manchester Utd | $7,753,164 | 11 | 11 |
| 19 | Darren Bent | Tottenham Hotspur | $7,599,636 | 46 | 34 |
| 20 | Fabio Cannavaro | CF Real Madrid | $7,522,872 | 36 | 42 |
| 21 | Carlos Tevez | Manchester Utd | $7,522,872 | 27 | 22 |
| 22 | Luca Toni | Bayern Munique | $7,062,288 | 10 | 6 |
| 23 | Francesco Totti | AS Roma | $6,985,524 | 13 | 15 |
| 24 | Arjen Robben | CF Real Madrid | $6,831,996 | 14 | 20 |
| 25 | Ryan Giggs | Manchester Utd | $6,678,468 | 28 | 23 |
| 26 | Jamie Carragher | Liverpool FC | $6,524,940 | 25 | 24 |
| 27 | John Arne Riise | Liverpool FC | $6,524,940 | 47 | 48 |
| 28 | Michael Essien | Chelsea FC | $6,448,176 | 19 | 44 |
| 29 | Gianluigi Buffon | Juventus FC | $6,397,000 | 20 | 10 |
| 30 | Andres Iniesta | FC Barcelona | $6,397,000 | 15 | 25 |
| 31 | Patrick Vieira | Internazionale | $6,397,000 | 45 | 37 |
| 32 | Sergio Aguero | Atletico Madrid | $6,397,000 | 9 | 16 |
| 33 | Samuel Eto´o | FC Barcelona | $6,397,000 | 33 | 30 |
| 34 | Charles Puyol | FC Barcelona | $6,397,000 | 38 | 35 |
| 35 | Adriano Lima | Internazionale | $6,397,000 | 48 | 46 |
| 36 | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Internazionale | $6,397,000 | 6 | 7 |
| 37 | Willy Sagnol | Bayern Munique | $6,397,000 | 44 | 43 |
| 38 | Oliver Kahn | Bayern Munique | $6,325,354 | 43 | 45 |
| 39 | Edwin Vandersar | Manchester Utd | $6,217,884 | 32 | 26 |
| 40 | Fernando Morientes | Valência | $6,217,884 | 41 | 38 |
| 41 | Lúcio | Bayern Munique | $6,141,120 | 39 | 35 |
| 42 | Alessandro Del Piero | Juventus FC | $6,141,120 | 5 | 3 |
| 43 | Franck Ribery | Bayern Munique | $6,141,120 | 3 | 5 |
| 44 | Djibril Cisse | O.Marselha | $6,141,120 | 40 | 39 |
| 45 | Harry Kewell | Liverpool FC | $6,141,120 | 50 | 49 |
| 46 | Joe Cole | Chelsea FC | $5,987,592 | 23 | 21 |
| 47 | Pedro Pauleta | Paris SG | $5,895,475 | 27 | 41 |
| 48 | Juninho Pernanbucano | O.Lyon | $5,834,064 | 26 | 40 |
| 49 | David Trezeguet | Juventus FC | $5,757,300 | 22 | 8 |
| 50 | David Beckham | LA Galaxy | $5,757,300 | 29 | 27 |
(Remember, these rankings are based on last year, that's why Del Piero is 3rd and 5th in my and Jim's rankings respectively. Also, I thought Essien was hurt last year but apparently he wasn't.)
Summary
Jim and I agreed perfectly on:
Cristiano - 1 overall
Torres - 2nd
Rio Ferdinand - 11th
Raul - 31st
These players "pay" rankings are 10th, 6th, 18th, and 17th respectively making, no shockers here, Cristi and Rio Ferdinand the most undervalued players (that we agreed upon) and Raul the most overvalued player.
Jim and I agreed near perfectly (less than 2 rankings difference) on quite a few players:
Titi Henry, Ballack, Shevsucko, Gerrard, Totti, Carragher, Riise, Adriano, Zlatan, Willy Sagnol, Olver Kahn, Del Piero, Ribery, Cisse, Harry Kewell, Joe Cole and David Beckham
Here are the top 5 most "appropriately" paid players in our opinion:
Ryan Giggs, Fernando Morientes, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Samuel Eto'o
Top 5 most overpaid:
Shevchenko, Henry, Michael Owen, Sol Campbell, John Arne Risse
Top 5 most underpaid:Franck Ribery, Del Piero, Ibrahimovic, Joe Cole, David Beckham
With regards to David Beckham I'll leave you with a line from Jay-Z. "Who the f%ck is overrated? If anything they underpaid him."
*Barcelona dismantles Manchester United
United beaten soundly
10,000 Red Devil fans injured in failed mass suicide
