Man Utd miracle? Ronaldo earns almost as much as entire Atalanta squad
Stuart Hodge
- Updated: 21 Oct 2021 22:48 BST
- 4 min read
Some outlets had the temerity to dub last night’s second-half turnaround at Old Trafford as “miraculous” or “heroic” and others suggested it was the power of the raucous home crowd that inspired the three Manchester United goals.
But, taking the narrative talking points away, was the eventual 3-2 scoreline really just the natural aggregation of lavish excesses of wealth that United can boast compared to a plucky Atalanta team who regularly outperform their spending power to a massive degree?
The Bergamo outfit have to beat considerable financial odds domestically even to qualify for continental competition, but fortunately in Gian Piero Gasperini have a wily and craft coach who has mastered the knack of getting them there consistently.
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After guiding Atalanta into Europe for the first time in over a quarter of a century, he has not stopped there and has continued to move the team forward. First it was the Europa League they were playing in, then the Champions League group stages, then it was qualification for the knockout stages.
Gasperini routinely achieves results that are actually miraculous and heroic, by getting Atalanta to even compete.
What they’re up against
The financial powerhouse that is Manchester United lavishes a mighty €280 million annually on player salaries alone, not to mention laying out over €1 billion in transfers in the last decade.
Atalanta, by comparison, spend an estimated €41m across the calendar year for their entire squad’s wages.
Cristiano Ronaldo alone pockets more than three-quarters of that himself. And that’s probably because he is a player capable of delivering match-winning moments at a barely credible rate.
The Portuguese superstar’s latest winning goal means that he is ahead of Lionel Messi in a couple of important measurable categories.
He has now scored against 38 different clubs in the Champions League, that’s one more than the Argentine, and he has now scored 42 winning goals in the competition, which is three ahead of Messi.
But United pay a premium to have him do that, even at 36 years old.
Ronaldo’s gargantuan paypacket sees him earn over €600,000 EVERY WEEK. That amounts to nearly €31.5m across the year.
It’s a colossal figure, and only bettered by Messi’s record-breaking Paris St Germain paypacket which is about €4m-per-year more, but Ronaldo actually earns more overall when you incorporate endorsements.
Compare that to some of Atalanta's players though. Matteo Pessina, part of Italy’s European Championship-winning squad earns €400,000 for the season. Ronaldo earns more than that in five days.
The top-paid player in Atalanta’s squad is on-loan Juventus defender Merih Demiral, who earns $2 million per year. All but three Manchester United players earn more.
Whatever way you look at it, the financial odds are stacked against Atalanta.
Can Atalanta continue to be competitive?
Atalanta did put in considerable investment to keep improving the squad this summer, a real statement of intent from them as they brought in the likes of Juan Musso, Cristian Romero, Teun Koopmeiners and Davide Zappacosta.
They spent around €72m and pulled back in €43m in sales, amounting to a net spend of just under the €30m mark, comfortably within the range of what they earn for managing to defy the odds to make it to the Champions League each year.
United on the other hand splashed out on €150m worth of transfers, whilst pulling in just €32.5m, so their net spend this summer was just €117.5m. Pretty routine stuff for United, who have averaged an outlay of over €167m each year across the previous five seasons.
So, all of that considered, for Atalanta to be even within a quarter of an hour of competing for a win at Old Trafford is remarkable in itself. Even more so when you consider they were missing five first-team players, and then lost Demiral to injury at half-time.
Is one Cristiano Ronaldo worth about 500 Matteo Pessinas? Of course not, but the truth is the disparity at the top level of the game will continue to increase as the bigger clubs continue to indulge themselves and it will become harder and harder for the Atalantas of the world to compete with behemoths.
