Football is undoubtedly the most powerful and most popular sport in the world, linking communities, stirring emotions and breaking down cultural barriers. Football has also become one of the most profitable industries, with a significant economic impact in infrastructure development, sponsorships, TV rights and transfers of players.

In 2009 AC Milan's star midfielder Kaka was considering a multimillion-pound deal to play for Manchester City. It was rumoured that the deal could have been worth a HUGE £100 million or more! That's more than double the record transfer deal of £47 million which was paid for Zinedine Zidane in 2001. But is any football player worth that kind of money? Should there be a limit on how much they're paid?

Unsurprisingly, there has been a lot of talk in recent days about the money earned by footballers – by which, of course, I mean those in the topmost bracket of the Premier League, the Paul Pogbas and Diego Costas of this world. They are indeed fabulously wealthy and utterly cosseted – and rarely British. In the current climate it is worth noting that they are also supremely arrogant and increasingly dismissive of loyalty to the clubs that pay their wages.

In 2017, Aguero’s weekly wage was costing Manchester City £200,000 a week. A teacher in England with ten years’ experience can look forward to an annual income of around £30,000, He or she would have to work a little under 7 years to earn what the 32-year-old striker picked up in a week.  Having played competitive football since he was six, the Argentinian rakes in more on an afternoon off than most Britons earn in 12 months of often hard and repetitive slog.

Or consider Wayne Rooney. The Everton striker, who in 2017 returned to his boyhood club after 13 years with United, is reported to be worth something like £100m and can expect to earn a further £25m or so before he hangs up his boots. No wonder he is keen to repair the damage done to his marriage after he was arrested on a drink-driving charge while in the company of a young woman he had picked up in a pub.

The rules of the market economy are clear. Footballers at the top of their profession are paid a fortune (including lucrative endorsements) because they have skills that are in high demand across the world. If fans weren’t prepared to shell out as much as £200 for match tickets, and if Sky TV didn’t think they would make a return on the £600 million a year they currently pay out for television rights, footballer’s wages would plummet. But they are and they do, with the result that those in the top bracket can afford to laugh all the way to the bank.

What ought we to think about this? First, bear in mind, other celebrities can make even more. Elton John, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Simon Cowell, Sacha Baron-Cohen and Adele, among many others, are hugely wealthy, while J K Rowling could end up worth in excess of £1 billion. If we object to footballers earning absurd amounts, why not complain about Paul McCartney, who makes more from his back catalogue each year than most of his fans in a dozen lifetimes? As former Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: "Football doesn't have an income problem. It has a spending problem."

Too right. At a time when income from broadcasters and sponsors has never been higher, ticket prices are in orbit, yet record numbers of clubs are drowning in a sea of red ink.

Sky-high player wages put upward pressure on ticket prices. If you've paid an arm and a leg for a ticket which could just be petty change to your footballing idol, it adds to an increasing sense of alienation amongst many supporters. Football needs to keep ticket prices down, indeed cut them, if it is to remain the people's game. However, in order to do that, the footballers wages are in dire need to be cut too.

Players are being paid increasingly high wages because the clubs are making more money than ever. As a result of globalisation and technological advances such as the pay TV market, football has become more popular and so more profitable. The rights for the first seasons of the Premier League in 1992-97 sold for less than £200 million. The TV rights for 2016-19 are in comparison worth more than £5 billion. If people lost interest in football, clubs would not be able to make such high profits. The demand for players would drop and so would their wages.

On the 18 April 2021, the Super League was announced. This was to be an elite football league consisting of 15 of the best teams in Europe every year with only 5 extra teams having to qualify. With a match every week this ensured the profits made annually by the ‘founding 15’ would be through the roof. Some estimated it could be as high as billions of euros. This astounding figure is 100% profit motivated, with no consideration for the preservation of what should be a sport dedicated to its fans. If the clubs who are already some of the wealthiest sports teams in the world are guaranteed a place in this elite league, then what does that mean for the excitement and thrill that many supporters live for? In this world, everything is money motivated and what was obviously a ploy to increase not only the clubs money but also an increase in players wages, was an awful display of sportsmanship.

It is obvious that professional footballers are being paid a ridiculous amount - and they know it, but with nobody stopping the increasing wages, there is nothing we -as viewers of the traditional sport we all love- can do. Personally, the money being spent on their salaries could have a shedload of other much more helpful uses. From donating or providing aid to countries in these times, to even using it to invest in the game of football to benefit the undying, loyal fans. It is unfortunate that skilled beings such as doctors and teachers are not getting such a large pay-check.

Lahari Paladugu