The Premier League is the most lucrative and valuable division in football, with some of the biggest players on the planet flocking to play in what is widely regarded as the best league in the world.

While La Liga boasts Lionel Messi, Serie A have Cristiano Ronaldo and Ligue 1 can lay claim to Neymar, the Premier League's depth of quality is unmatched and makes it one of the most desirable locations to play football.

The average market value of a Premier League squad is £437m, some £150m more than the next highest division, and with that comes some astronomical wage packets to fend off the interest of Real Madrid, Barcelona et al.

Here, Sports Mole looks at the competition's top 50 highest-earning players.

Manchester United's David de Gea leads the way as the highest-earning player in the division, having penned a £375,000-a-week contract last year to finally end speculation linking him with a move to Real Madrid.

The Spaniard's future has come under scrutiny following a string of errors over the last two seasons, though, making more mistakes leading directly to goals than any other Premier League player in that time.

De Gea is not the only member of the top 10 earners whose performances have been questioned recently; his United teammate Paul Pogba sits fourth on the list despite playing just seven top-flight games this season, while Arsenal's Mesut Ozil is just one place behind him in fifth.

Perhaps the most surprising member of the top 10 is Tanguy Ndombele, who became Tottenham Hotspur's most expensive signing when he joined last summer but has failed to live up to that price tag so far.

The Frenchman was publicly criticised by manager Jose Mourinho before play was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, and the demand for more from the midfielder is understandable given that he is the club's highest earner alongside Harry Kane.

Liverpool have been by far and away the best team in the Premier League this season but have just one player in the top 12 earners - two-time Golden Boot winner Mohamed Salah.

A Manchester quintet make up the top 10, with Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero from Man City and Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford from United.

Interestingly, Chelsea - the standard-bearers for big-spending in the Premier League for so long - do not appear on the list until number 19, with under-fire goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and N'Golo Kante both on £150,000 a week.

The highest-paid player outside any of the 'big six' is Leicester City's Jamie Vardy, who at £140,000 per week earns the same amount as Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson and Arsenal record signing Nicolas Pepe.

Crystal Palace midfielder Max Meyer is one of the more unexpected top earners, pocketing more than Man City trio Aymeric Laporte, Rodri and Riyad Mahrez despite making just six Premier League starts this season.

The top 50 highest-paid players per week in the Premier League

1. David De Gea (Man Utd) - £375,000
2. Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) - £320,833
3. Raheem Sterling (Man City) - £300,000
4. Paul Pogba (Man Utd) - £290,000
5. Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) - £268,750
6. Anthony Martial (Man Utd) - £250,000
7. Sergio Aguero (Man City) - £230,135
8. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - £200,000
= Marcus Rashford (Man Utd) - £200,000
= Harry Kane (Tottenham) - £200,000
= Tanguy Ndombele (Tottenham) - £200,000
12. Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) - £182,051
13. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) - £180,000
14. Virgil Van Dijk (Liverpool) - £165,000
15. Harry Maguire (Man Utd) - £162,775
16. David Silva (Man City) - £160,000
= Juan Mata (Man Utd) - £160,000
18. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) - £157,500
19. Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea) - £150,000
= N'Golo Kante (Chelsea) - £150,000
= Fernandinho (Man City) - £150,000
= Bernardo Silva (Man City) - £150,000
23. Nicolas Pepe (Arsenal) - £140,000
= Jamie Vardy (Leicester) - £140,000
= Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) - £140,000
= James Milner (Liverpool) - £140,000
= Ilkay Gundogan (Man City) - £140,000
= Son Heung-min (Tottenham) - £140,000
29. Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) - £132,917
30. Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) - £130,000
= Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester) - £130,000
32. David Luiz (Arsenal) - £125,673
33. Max Meyer (Crystal Palace) - £125,000
34. Rodri (Man City) - £121,154
35. Willian (Chelsea) - £120,000
= Christian Benteke (Crystal Palace) - £120,000
= Bernard (Everton) - £120,000
= Yerry Mina (Everton) - £120,000
= Naby Keita (Liverpool) - £120,000
= Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Liverpool) - £120,000
= Aymeric Laporte (Man City) - £120,000
= Riyad Mahrez (Man City) - £120,000
= Nicolas Otamendi (Man City) - £120,000
= Luke Shaw (Man Utd) - £120,000
= Fred (Man Utd) - £120,000
= Victor Lindelof(Man Utd) - £120,000
= Nemanja Matic (Man Utd) - £120,000
48. Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham) - £115,000
49. Andre Gomes (Everton) - £112,212
50. Hector Bellerin (Arsenal) - £110,000
= Tiemoue Bakayoko (Chelsea) - £110,000
= Jorginho (Chelsea) - £110,000
= Olivier Giroud (Chelsea) - £110,000
= Kyle Walker (Man City) - £110,000

Sports Mole has used figures from Spotrac for the purposes of this article