In the modern era, no club has done more to challenge the Spanish duopoly held by Barcelona and Real Madrid than the latter’s city rivals Atletico.
The Mattress Makers have won La Liga on two occasions in the 21st century while their average league finish since Diego Simeone took charge in 2011 is third. An impressive six times in recent years they have dumped one or the other out of a domestic competition.
Naturally, for all that Simeone deserves enormous credit for installing a bellicose spirit into the club, taking on the two well-established bullies of the playground still requires heavy funding, and this is duly reflected in the salaries of Atletico’s star names.
For context though, it’s worth noting that Real’s £272m annual payroll is almost double that of their neighbour’s £138m wage-bill. Barcelona meanwhile pay their megastars £57m more.
Biggest Earners at Atletico (2025/26):
- Jan Oblak - £352,532 per week (£18.3m per year)
- Julian Alvarez - £211,793 per week (£11.1m per year)
- Antoine Griezmann - £158,930 per week (£8.2m per year)
- Conor Gallagher - £152,491 per week (£7.9m per year)
- Alex Baena - £141,138 per week (£7.3m per year)
With the latest Forbes valuation of football clubs placing Atletico as the 13th richest in the world, boasting a yearly revenue of £335.4m, they can unquestionably afford to pay such sizable sums. And perhaps it’s a touch incongruous to portray them as underdogs too.
Yet that takes nothing away from how well they have punched up across the last decade and more, doing so better than anyone else around.
Jan Oblak
It is highly unusual for a goalkeeper to top a club’s salary structure. This though is Jan Oblak, the recipient of a record six Zamora Trophies, a merit given to the stopper who conceded the fewest number of La Liga goals the season before.
Signed for £14m from Benfica in 2014 the 6ft 2 Slovenian has become a vital component in Simeone’s Atleti revolution, accruing such a vast and varied anthology of important saves that many regard him as peerless.
Certainly only Thibaut Courtois and Gianluigi Donnarumma reside in his stratosphere.
On heading to Spain, Oblak boosted his earnings by the power of three but that jump is nothing compared to the steep increase he has warranted since.
His original deal garnered him £1.5m a year, that figure doubling in his third campaign. A contract extension signed in 2019 however – designed to fend off interested suitors – rocketed his income to such an extent that the 32-year-old is now the fifth highest paid player in La Liga.
Julian Alvarez
The Argentine registered a goal involvement every 109 minutes for Manchester City across his two seasons in the Premier League. That’s a return up there with the best of them.
It is even more impressive when it’s acknowledged that the World Cup winner only played centre-forward for 47% of his appearances in sky blue, too often shifted out wide or repositioned as a number 10. Failing that, he would be on the bench.
Ultimately, playing second fiddle to Erling Haaland wasn’t deemed to be the most desirable career course for Alvarez and once he made his frustrations known Atletico wasted little time in courting him.
An £81.8m move and 38 goals in 73 outings later and the 25-year-old is now one of the most feared frontmen in La Liga.
Antoine Griezmann
The French forward’s salary profile makes for fascinating reading, highlighting his swift rise to superstardom and maybe reflecting too how he has now become almost part of the furniture in Spain.
An ornate piece for sure but still, part of the furniture.
On moving to Atleti from Real Sociedad in 2014, Griezmann was in receipt of £4m a year, a figure that increased ten times over across the subsequent four successful seasons, when Simeone’s men found themselves short-priced in the football betting for silverware and for good reason.
In that period, he won the World Cup with Les Bleus and twice came third in the Ballon d’Or reckoning.
His blockbuster move to Barcelona meanwhile actually saw the player agree to a pay cut, his £40m salary in Madrid decreasing to £30m, though it must be said his bonuses were substantially better.
From there it has been a case of diminishing returns for a brilliant talent who recently notched his 200th La Liga strike. He rejoined Atletico on £20m a year. He now receives less than half of that.
With a net worth estimated to be north of £50m we’re sure he sleeps quite soundly about this.
Conor Gallagher
With a year remaining on his contract at Chelsea, the high-energy midfielder entered talks and immediately knew which way the wind was blowing.
There was to be an increase on his £2.6m per annum wages at Stamford Bridge – to reflect Gallagher establishing himself in the England set-up since the last deal was struck – but a two-year extension was deemed unacceptable.
Moreover, it was felt by many that the player would not synch with new manager Enzo Maresca, who typically favoured possession-based fare. Was the Three Lions star about to be frozen out?
Taking advantage of these concerns, Atletico swooped with a low-ball offer of £34m, that was accepted by the Blues because they were unwilling to sell to an English rival.
After coming through the ranks at Chelsea, and installing himself as an integral presence there, Gallagher was off to La Liga, aware that his bustling style of play was a perfect match for Simeone’s philosophy.
The player initially impressed at the Metropolitano but that soon gave way to long stints on the bench, the 25-year-old coming on with 20 or so minutes to spare to keep the intensity up.
At least he is comforted by a sharp rise in his earnings, a 200% increase no less. At least there’s that.
Alex Baena
Atleti were never seriously fancied in the sports betting to add a 12th La Liga crown to their trophy cabinet in 2024/25, though true to type, they fiercely competed throughout.
Ultimately, they lost the same number of games as Barcelona and Real Madrid but crucially drew too many contests.
What they needed was a difference-maker, a winger who could offer up a goal-threat while additionally carve out openings for Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth.
At Villarreal, Baena had reached double figures for assists two seasons running and though it took a chunky €50m to prise him from the Yellow Submarine last summer, his contract was plain sailing.
The exciting 24-year-old international was ‘only’ on £1.7m per year at his boyhood club.
