In second place in also five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo who joined Juventus last summer ending his nine-year stay in Madrid with Real.
The Portuguese star is not as close to Messi as you would think salary wise, and earns £4.1m a month.
Antoine Griezmann makes up the top three after snubbing Barcelona before the World Cup to sign an extension with Atletico Madrid.
The new deal is worth an estimated £2.9m a month which is someway below Ronaldo in second.
In fourth is Neymar who earns £2.7m with Paris Saint-Germain.
Lionel Messi: The Barcelona star is the world's highest-earning player (Image: GETTY)
Lionel Messi: Ronaldo is in second place, but some way off his rival (Image: GETTY)
The Brazilian became the world’s most expensive player when he made the switch to France for £200m in 2017.
His former team mate Luis Suarez earns just below with £2.5m a month.
Gareth Bale is the only Real Madrid player to make the top ten, netting £2.2m.
Philippe Coutinho is the third Barcelona star to make the list after his £142m switch from Liverpool saw him land a contract worth £2m a month.
Alexis Sanchez currently earns £1.99m with Manchester United and is eighth in the list.
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Lionel Messi: Antoine Griezmann is third and ahead of Neymar (Image: GETTY)
Lionel Messi: Crocked star Neymar does not even make the top three (Image: GETTY)
Kylian Mbappe is the youngest star in the top ten with a deal worth £1.5m a month.
Making up the top ten is Mesut Ozil who earns £1.4m, but still cannot get into the Arsenal side regularly under Unai Emery.
The Bundesliga does not have a single representative within the top ten.
Their highest-earning player Robert Lewandowski narrowly misses out, but earns £1.2million a month.