It stands to reason that the most successful Italian club, with 36 Serie A titles and 11 European honours, will have one of the biggest wage bills on the Peninsula.
Juventus duly have the second highest in 2025/26, their £105.5m allocated to playing staff trailing only to Inter.
There is nothing new to this, of course, Juve long being a behemoth of the Italian game.
Though numbers aren’t available, it’s fair to assume their great team of the Eighties, featuring Platini, Boniek and company, probably demanded a hefty pay packet.
Biggest Earners At Juventus (2025/26)
- Dušan Vlahović - £372,000 a week
- Jonathan David - £186,000 a week
- Gleison Bremer - £151,000 a week
- Manuel Locatelli - £101,000 a week
- Teun Koopmeiners - £95,000 a week
Going further back, John Charles was extremely well remunerated for heading to Turin from Leeds in 1957. An apartment, car, and £10,000 signing on fee getting around a probative wage cap at the time.
Fast forward to the present day and there is certainly no ceiling in place now, with Juve’s top five earners profiting more than the entire squads of Parma, Lecce, and Hellas Verona combined.
Dušan Vlahović
At the time of writing, the Serbian’s future in Turin is uncertain, the club keen to sell the forward in order to free up funds. With Vlahovic on more than double the next highest earner it’s easy to see the logic here, especially as there is less than 12 months remaining on his contract.
Milan and Newcastle are reportedly interested but guess what the sticking point is. That’s right, his astronomical wages.
Now 25, and with 58 goals from 145 appearances to his name, Vlahovic joined from Fiorentina in 2022 for €70m plus add-ons, a huge sum that matched his reputation back then. After tearing things up in Florence, he was generally regarded as one of the most fearsome young strikers in world football.
Has that estimation subsequently dipped? Perhaps a little after one too many mediocre displays in black and white, the player blowing hot and cold in recent seasons.
Still, he remains a favourite pick in the live betting markets, always capable of turning a game on its head with a well-aimed strike. He’s just no longer deemed to be £372,000 a week good.
Jonathan David
Long-linked with a big-money move to Serie A, David signed to Juve from Lille this summer on a free after his five-year contract with the French side concluded.
In that period, the Canadian international was a consistent finisher in Ligue 1, bagging 87 goals in 178 outings. He also impressed at the 2022 World Cup for his country, not scoring but still one of the stand-out performers across the group stage.
Blessed with pace and admired for his tactical intelligence – a big plus in Italy – there are high expectations that David will thrive in Turin though a couple of early strikes will help.
An opening lean spell will have fans questioning his lofty wage, along with a £10.8m bonus for signing.
Gleison Bremer
It was city rivals Torino who took the plunge on Bremer, bringing the young defender over from Brazil in 2018. Though it took the 6ft 2 centre-back a while to settle, once he did, he soon became known as one of the most solid and consistent defenders in the league.
Naturally, with Il Toro never threatening to feature strongly in the Serie A betting, the player found it hard to turn down a subsequent move made by Juve, Bremer moving four miles north in 2022.
A contract extension just a year later reflects his stature at the club, the Old Lady keen to tie him down to 2028.
To further demonstrate how much of a cornerstone he has become we only need look at Juve’s results last season following his ACL injury. With his imposing presence taken out of their back-line, the Zebras suddenly looked beatable and ordinary.
Manuel Locatelli
Way back in 2016, in his debut campaign in Serie A, the deep-lying playmaker scored against Juventus, a beauty too.
Maybe the higher-ups at the Zebras have long memories because five years later they jumped at the chance of luring him north, when it became clear his star was shining too bright for Sassuolo.
Initially, Locatelli moved on a two-year loan but the 30-cap Italian international wasted little time in making the number six role his own, creating from deep, all while protecting the back-four.
Appointed captain last season, his high wages reflect his importance to the club as they seek a first title triumph in six years.
Teun Koopmeiners
The Dutch international made his name in the Eredivisie, excelling for AZ over four seasons.
Having guided the ‘Cheese Framers’ to a second place finish he then boosted his profile significantly beyond the Netherlands by scoring a ridiculous backheel volley in the Champions League.
Atalanta duly came calling in 2021, the midfielder purchased for a knock-down €12m and in three seasons in Bergamo, he established himself as a genuine talent of note. In 2023/24 – his final campaign with La Dea – Koopmeiners was voted into the Serie A Team of the Year.
By now a big move seemed inevitable and it was Juve who won a three-way scrap for his signature, shelling out €54.7m for his services that summer.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*
