Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's first payslips compared from Man Utd and Barcelona days

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s first respective payslips from Manchester United and Barcelona have been compared.

​​Messi and Ronaldo have been the world’s most famous, successful and thus, well-paid footballers in the world in the past 15 years.

The two footballing icons, who have collectively won 13 Ballon d’Ors (Eight for Messi; five for Ronaldo) are no longer plying their trade in Europe, with Ronaldo among a spate of players to have moved to the Saudi Pro League with Al Nassr and Messi having joined Inter Miami last summer.

Forbes has claimed Ronaldo’s three-year contract at Al Nassr is worth over €200million (£172million).

Meanwhile, Spanish publication Marca, claimed Messi earns some £43million annually in Miami. That wage comfortably positions the Argentina star as the highest-paid player in the MLS, ahead of the Chicago Fire's Xherdan Shaqiri, who earns £6.5million-a-year.

Messi and Ronaldo have spent decades elevating their statuses to the point where they can command such salaries.

Of course, both were once on more humble wages when breaking into the game.

According to El Futbolero, Messi earned just €600 (£516) a month as a youth player at Barcelona, which amounts to just over £6000 per year.

Said wage sky-rocketed to €3million-a-year (£2.6million) however, once the Argentina star signed his first professional deal with the Catalan giants.

Messi now plays for Inter Miami in the MLS (Getty)

Moreover, El Futbolero claimed that Ronaldo was on €1million (£860,000) a year when he signed his first professional deal at Sporting.

And upon securing a move to Manchester United in 2003, Dispensable Soccer has alleged that the Portugal star’s salary more than doubled to £35,000-a-week, which is the equivalent of £1.82million-a-year.

Since then, both have seen their wages perpetually grow, to the point where Forbes reported Ronaldo as having a net worth of $136million (£107million) and Messi having a net worth of $130million (£102million).

Messi and Ronaldo will face one another for potentially the last ever time th

Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Manchester United, Barcelona

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.