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SERIE A · MIDFIELDERS · 2026/27

Highest paid Serie A midfielders

John Stones and Nicolò Barella are the best-paid midfielders in Serie A, on £200,000 a week each, or £10,400,000 a year. Hakan Çalhanoglu is next on £185,000 at Inter Milan. We hold wages for 249 Serie A midfielders in 2026/27.

BEST PAID £200k
AVERAGE WAGE £44,528
SHARE OF WAGE BILL23%
TOP 10 A WEEK £1.4m
WAGES HELD249

The 50 best-paid Serie A midfielders

Weekly wage, 2026/27. A player who plays in two areas of the pitch is on both lists, at the full wage.

The best-paid midfielders in Serie A in 2026/27, ranked by weekly wage, with the yearly wage, club, age, position and nationality.
# PLAYER WEEKLY YEARLY CLUB AGE POSITION NATION
1 John Stones £200,000£200k £10,400,000£10.4m Inter Milan 31 Centre-back, defensive midfielder England
2 Nicolò Barella £200,000£200k £10,400,000£10.4m Inter Milan 28 Central midfielder Italy
3 Hakan Çalhanoglu £185,000£185k £9,620,000£9.6m Inter Milan 31 Defensive midfielder Türkiye
4 Adrien Rabiot £154,000£154k £8,008,000£8.0m AC Milan 30 Defensive midfielder, central midfielder France
5 Douglas Luiz £138,000£138k £7,176,000£7.2m Juventus 27 Defensive midfielder Brazil
6 Weston McKennie £120,000£120k £6,240,000£6.2m Juventus 26 Right wing-back, defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder United States
7 Curtis Jones £110,000£110k £5,720,000£5.7m Inter Milan 24 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder England
8 Luka Modric £108,000£108k £5,616,000£5.6m AC Milan 39 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder Croatia
9 Lorenzo Pellegrini £108,000£108k £5,616,000£5.6m Associazione Sportiva Roma 29 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder Italy
10 Manuel Locatelli £102,000£102k £5,304,000£5.3m Juventus 27 Defensive midfielder Italy
11 Teun Koopmeiners £93,000£93k £4,836,000£4.8m Juventus 27 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder Netherlands
12 Scott McTominay £90,000£90k £4,680,000£4.7m Napoli 28 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder Scotland
13 Bryan Cristante £89,000£89k £4,628,000£4.6m Associazione Sportiva Roma 30 Defensive midfielder Italy
14 Davide Frattesi £88,000£88k £4,576,000£4.6m Lazio 25 Central midfielder Italy
15 Manu Koné £85,000£85k £4,420,000£4.4m Associazione Sportiva Roma 24 Defensive midfielder France
16 Ruben Loftus-Cheek £83,000£83k £4,316,000£4.3m AC Milan 29 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder England
17 Henrikh Mkhitaryan £82,000£82k £4,264,000£4.3m Inter Milan 36 Defensive midfielder Armenia
18 Ardon Jashari £80,000£80k £4,160,000£4.2m AC Milan 22 Defensive midfielder Switzerland
19 Yan Couto £79,000£79k £4,108,000£4.1m Como 1907 23 Right-back, right midfielder Brazil
20 Andrea Cambiaso £77,000£77k £4,004,000£4.0m Juventus 25 Full-back, wide midfielder Italy
21 Pervis Estupiñán £76,000£76k £3,952,000£4.0m AC Milan 27 Left-back, left midfielder Ecuador
22 Samuele Ricci £75,000£75k £3,900,000£3.9m Como 1907 23 Defensive midfielder Italy
23 Djibril Sow £71,000£71k £3,692,000£3.7m Genoa Cricket and Football Club 28 Defensive midfielder Switzerland
24 Nuno Tavares £67,000£67k £3,484,000£3.5m Lazio 25 Left-back, left midfielder Portugal
25 Pape Matar Sarr £65,000£65k £3,380,000£3.4m Juventus 22 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder Senegal
26 Maxence Caqueret £64,000£64k £3,328,000£3.3m Como 1907 25 Defensive midfielder France
27 Andy Diouf £64,000£64k £3,328,000£3.3m Inter Milan 22 Right wing-back, defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder France
28 João Mário £61,000£61k £3,172,000£3.2m ACF Fiorentina 25 Full-back, right midfielder Portugal
29 Harry Winks £61,000£61k £3,172,000£3.2m Cagliari Calcio 29 Defensive midfielder England
30 Khephren Thuram £61,000£61k £3,172,000£3.2m Juventus 24 Defensive midfielder France
31 André-Franck Zambo Anguissa £61,000£61k £3,172,000£3.2m Napoli 29 Defensive midfielder Cameroon
32 Nicolò Rovella £60,000£60k £3,120,000£3.1m Lazio 23 Defensive midfielder Italy
33 Nemanja Matic £60,000£60k £3,120,000£3.1m U.S. Sassuolo Calcio 36 Defensive midfielder Serbia
34 Billy Gilmour £58,000£58k £3,016,000£3.0m Napoli 24 Defensive midfielder Scotland
35 Stanislav Lobotka £58,000£58k £3,016,000£3.0m Napoli 30 Defensive midfielder Slovakia
36 Wesley (Wesley Vinicius França Lima) £57,000£57k £2,964,000£3.0m Associazione Sportiva Roma 21 Full-back, right midfielder Brazil
37 Leonardo Spinazzola £55,000£55k £2,860,000£2.9m Napoli 32 Left-back, left midfielder Italy
38 Nicolò Fagioli £54,000£54k £2,808,000£2.8m ACF Fiorentina 24 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder Italy
39 Fabiano Parisi £54,000£54k £2,808,000£2.8m ACF Fiorentina 24 Left-back, left midfielder Italy
40 Niccolò Pisilli £54,000£54k £2,808,000£2.8m Associazione Sportiva Roma 20 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder Italy
41 Cristiano Biraghi £54,000£54k £2,808,000£2.8m Torino 32 Centre-back, left midfielder Italy
42 Raoul Bellanova £53,000£53k £2,756,000£2.8m Atalanta 25 Right-back, right midfielder Italy
43 Manuel Lazzari £51,000£51k £2,652,000£2.7m Lazio 31 Right-back, right midfielder Italy
44 Carlos Augusto £49,000£49k £2,548,000£2.5m Inter Milan 26 Centre-back, left midfielder Brazil
45 Danilo Cataldi £48,000£48k £2,496,000£2.5m Lazio 30 Defensive midfielder Italy
46 Cesare Casadei £48,000£48k £2,496,000£2.5m Torino 22 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder Italy
47 Rolando Mandragora £47,000£47k £2,444,000£2.4m Torino 28 Defensive midfielder Italy
48 Kenneth Taylor £46,000£46k £2,392,000£2.4m Lazio 23 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder Netherlands
49 Petar Sučić £45,000£45k £2,340,000£2.3m Inter Milan 21 Defensive midfielder Croatia
50 Gianluca Busio £44,000£44k £2,288,000£2.3m Venezia Football Club 23 Defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder United States

What each position earns in Serie A

Average weekly wage of the players aged 22 or over we hold a wage for

Goalkeepers £25k Defenders £36k Midfielders £45k Attackers £43k

Midfielders take 23% of what Serie A pays its players of that age. The four shares add up to the whole bill, because a player who plays in two areas gives half the wage to each.

The clubs that pay their midfielders the most

Every midfielder wage we hold at each Serie A club, added together, a week

Inter Milan £939k Juventus £703k AC Milan £569k Lazio £519k Associazione Sportiva Roma £478k Napoli £367k Como 1907 £333k ACF Fiorentina £269k Venezia Football Club £228k Torino £210k

Inter Milan pay 11 midfielders £938,938 a week between them, and John Stones takes 21% of it.

The best-paid midfielder at every Serie A club

20 clubs, 2026/27, with where each ranks among the league's midfielders

Each Serie A club's best-paid midfielder in 2026/27, the weekly wage, and that player's rank among every midfielder in the league.
CLUB PLAYER WEEKLY RANK
Inter Milan John Stones £200,000£200k 1
AC Milan Adrien Rabiot £154,000£154k 4
Juventus Douglas Luiz £138,000£138k 5
Associazione Sportiva Roma Lorenzo Pellegrini £108,000£108k 9
Napoli Scott McTominay £90,000£90k 12
Lazio Davide Frattesi £88,000£88k 14
Como 1907 Yan Couto £79,000£79k 19
Genoa Cricket and Football Club Djibril Sow £71,000£71k 23
ACF Fiorentina João Mário £61,000£61k 28
Cagliari Calcio Harry Winks £61,000£61k 29
U.S. Sassuolo Calcio Nemanja Matic £60,000£60k 33
Torino Cristiano Biraghi £54,000£54k 41
Atalanta Raoul Bellanova £53,000£53k 42
Venezia Football Club Gianluca Busio £44,000£44k 50
Associazione Calcio Monza Michael Folorunsho £36,000£36k 60
Parma Calcio 1913 Hans Nicolussi Caviglia £29,000£29k 71
Bologna FC 1909 Tommaso Pobega £28,000£28k 73
Unione Sportiva Lecce Ivan Ilic £27,000£27k 75
Frosinone Calcio Aleksa Terzic £26,000£26k 76
Udinese Calcio Mërgim Vojvoda £22,000£22k 87

The best-paid midfielder in every men's league

43 leagues, ordered by their best-paid midfielder. Serie A ranks eighth.

The best-paid midfielder in each men's league we rank midfielders in, the weekly wage, and the league's average midfielder wage over players aged 22 or over.
LEAGUE BEST PAID WEEKLY AVERAGE
Saudi Pro League Otávio £472,000£472k £49,687£50k
Süper Lig N'Golo Kanté £348,000£348k £21,488£21k
Bundesliga Joshua Kimmich £315,000£315k £39,483£39k
Premier League Bruno Fernandes £300,000£300k £76,710£77k
Major League Soccer Casemiro £300,000£300k £11,731£12k
Ligue 1 Marquinhos £279,000£279k £30,015£30k
La Liga Trent Alexander-Arnold £249,000£249k £40,838£41k
Serie A John Stones £200,000£200k £44,528£45k
Primeira Liga João Palhinha £199,000£199k £11,158£11k
Championship Kalvin Phillips £165,000£165k £20,131£20k
Croatian First League Ismaël Bennacer £117,000£117k £4,206£4k
Brasileirão Série A Arthur £99,000£99k £10,842£11k
Eredivisie Lutsharel Geertruida £99,000£99k £9,142£9k
2. Bundesliga Maximilian Arnold £74,000£74k £11,170£11k
Russian Premier League Wendel £71,000£71k £16,664£17k
Liga MX Carlos Gruezo £64,000£64k £6,811£7k
League One Boubakary Soumaré £58,000£58k £6,405£6k
Serie B Ali Al Musrati £55,000£55k £8,344£8k
La Liga 2 Donny van de Beek £54,000£54k £5,199£5k
Super Liga Leandro Paredes £44,000£44k £4,100£4k
Chinese Super League Ibrahim Amadou £42,000£42k £5,544£6k
Scottish Premiership Callum McGregor £39,000£39k £5,790£6k
J1 League Oriol Romeu £35,000£35k £4,063£4k
Danish Superliga Philip Billing £35,000£35k £7,123£7k
Superleague Greece Christos Zafeiris £33,000£33k £7,533£8k
Czech First League Sivert Mannsverk £33,000£33k £2,010£2k
Belgian Pro League László Bénes £25,000£25k £6,702£7k
Ekstraklasa Karol Linetty £25,000£25k £3,410£3k
Ligue 2 Ibou Sissoko £21,000£21k £4,966£5k
Austrian Bundesliga Bendegúz Bolla £20,000£20k £3,500£4k
Belgian Challenger Pro League Mats Rits £16,000£16k £2,048£2k
Eliteserien Hrannar Snær Magnússon £13,000£13k £2,231£2k
League Two Joe Williams £12,000£12k £2,560£3k
Categoría Primera A Élan Ricardo £11,000£11k £3,852£4k
Thai League Roque Mesa £8,000£8k £2,247£2k
Indian Super League Lalengmawia £5,500£6k £707£707
Veikkausliiga Alexander Ring £4,500£5k £708£708
Scottish Championship Graeme Shinnie £4,200£4k £907£907
National League Jake Rooney £4,100£4k £1,293£1k
A-League Jake Girdwood-Reich £4,100£4k £1,219£1k
I-League Jordi Altena £3,100£3k £364£364
Canadian Premier League Manuel Aparicio £810£810 £458£458
Meistriliiga Modou Tambedou £484£484 £161£161

Frequently asked questions

Who is the highest paid midfielder in Serie A?

John Stones of Inter Milan and Nicolò Barella of Inter Milan, on £200,000 a week each in 2026/27, or £10,400,000 a year.

How much do Serie A midfielders earn?

The average Serie A midfielder aged 22 or over earns £44,528 a week, and the median one £31,000. Midfielders take 23% of what Serie A pays its players of that age.

Which Serie A club pays its midfielders the most?

Inter Milan, £938,938 a week across the 11 midfielders we hold a wage for, led by John Stones on £200,000.

Who is the highest paid midfielder in football?

Of the 43 men's leagues we rank midfielders in, the best-paid is Otávio of Al-Qadsiah Football Club in the Saudi Pro League, on £472,000 a week. The best-paid in Serie A ranks eighth of the 43 leagues on that measure.

Where to next

The same Serie A squads, cut a different way

See the highest paid Serie A players in every position, the best-paid player at every club, what Serie A players are paid at every age, or Serie A wage bill, club by club.