The luxury lifestyle of the Gunners
Many of the world's top footballers enjoy a lifestyle that the rest of us can only dream about. Arsenal FC is one of the leading Premiership clubs, and the team has some of the highest paid stars in the game. How do they spend the money that they earn and what type of luxury lifestyle do they really lead?
A footballing lifestyle
We're familiar with the lives of footballers, having witnessed it on television programmes or through gossip magazines. They seem to spend large sums of money on just about everything that they do. The figures they talk about on a weekly basis are ones that the majority of us would be happy to earn in a year.
The real footballer's lifestyle starts with the footballer's home. They are often set on exclusive developments and feature all the latest high tech devices. Of course a footballer's home, such as those owned by some of the Arsenal team, wouldn't be complete without a swimming pool, cinema or games room.
However, none of the team can probably match the wealth and properties of the club's owner, Alisher Usmanov. The Russian oligarch is said to own eight properties on or close to Via Romazzino on Sardinia, which is the most expensive address in Italy.
Even on a night out, footballers want only the best. Café de Paris in London has long been a regular haunt for many Arsenal players and celebrities. It offers the exclusivity that they are looking for, and those wanting to reserve a VIP table at the club would need to spend a minimum of £500, which is nothing to a top footballer.
The top paid players
According to the figures for the 2015/16 season, Mesut Ozil is the club's highest paid player. His contract pays £140,000 a week. Not far behind is Alexis Sanchez, earning £130,000 a week, and then Theo Walcott on £110,000. Oliver Giroud and Petr Cech are both reported to be on £100,000 a week.
These salaries are enough to buy a small property in some parts of the country. If you fancy blowing this much money, other things that you could afford include some of the supercars from the likes of McLaren or Lamborghini, or you could treat yourself to a luxury yacht.
Selling on assets
With such large amounts of money available, footballers can often get bored with their purchases and look to sell them on. This can also boost their finances if they've invested in the right areas. For instance, Lord Laidlow, who is one of the richest people in Scotland, made around £17 million when he sells his car collection. He made his money in publishing and is reported to be worth around £770 million. He has a luxury lifestyle to rival any footballers, with a host of expensive cars to choose from and properties in South Africa and Monaco.
This kind of lifestyle still remains a distant dream for the majority of people. They may watch these players on the pitch every week, but that's as close as they'll get to living the life of a Premiership star.
