4. Cesc Fabregas – £110k p/w

Arsenal handed Cesc Fabregas an unprecedented £3 million ‘golden handcuffs’ payment and upped his wages by nearly 50 per cent to £110,000-a-week to keep him at the club. 

The board were so desperate to hang on to the player that they finally sanctioned an unprecedented deal to not only increase his salary from £80,000-per-week to £110,000-a-week but also back-date his pay for two years to compensate him for being underpaid over that period compared to other elite Premier League players.