#4=. Maro Itoje (Saracens) – £800k
When Itoje was rumoured to be interested in joining Racing 92 last year, club president Jacky Lorenzetti let slip that the lock wanted €1million for the deal to go through.
Exact figures on Itoje’s current salary at Saracens vary but it is widely reported that he is bringing home in excess of £800,000.
Maro Itoje facts:
- He doesn’t enjoy drinking beer
- He likes to collect art in his spare time
- As a schoolboy, Itoje played several sports including basketball, football, rugby and athletics, representing England at U17 level in shot put
- Maro got a rugby scholarship to London Harrow school when he was 11. He then studied for a Politics degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies in Bloomsbury, London at the same time as starting his rugby career
- He is also the cousin of Bath’s loosehead-prop Beno Obano
- The lock was born Oghenemaro Miles Itoje in Camden, London on 28 October 1994 to Nigerian parents
#2=. Cheslin Kolbe (Toulon) – £850k
The speedster hit the financial jackpot with his summer switch from Toulouse to Top 14 rivals Toulon. He now warns an annual salary of €1million after they buy out the remainder of his contract from the recent league/Champions Cup double winners.