Khama’s earnings revealed

Khama Billiat has become the Absa South African Premiership soccer’s highest earner after securing his move to Kaizer Chiefs from rivals Mamelodi Sundowns.

Sport24 can reveal the amount the Zimbabwean forward is earning at the Glamour Boys who wouldn’t let money stand in the way of securing his services.

The 27-year-old signed a three-year contract with an option of an additional year and is reportedly earning an eye-watering R10 million a year before tax.

That’s R833 333 per month.

Taking the tax-man into consideration — as footballers are taxed at 38% — Billiat will be paid R515 000 a month, making him comfortably the top-earner in South Africa’s top-flight.

Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane confirmed that the club could not meet Billiat’s financial demands, which prompted the star to join Chiefs.

“We gave him a good offer,” Mosimane said. “Trust me, it was a big offer. The offer that we gave, he could have been the highest paid player, which would probably have taken four years for that record to be broken.”

Billiat is believed to have turned down another offer — and in hindsight with good reason — from Egyptian side Zamalek who were prepared to pay him an annual salary of $450 000 (R6 050 000).

By way of a comparison, Portuguese star forward Cristiano Ronaldo is set to earn a staggering R39.4 million after tax per month after sealing his move to Italian champions Juventus from Spanish giants Real Madrid on Tuesday.

Ronaldo will, in fact, earn almost £73 000 a day at Juventus, with his four-year deal worth about £26m a year.

The 33-year-old has joined the Italian champions from Real Madrid for £99.2m.

Meanwhile, Italian media was bubbling with enthusiasm yesterday after Serie A club Juventus announced the 100 million-euro “deal of the century” and wrestled superstar Cristiano Ronaldo from European soccer champions Real Madrid.

The country’s number one daily the Corriere della Sera led the cries of joy at Ronaldo’s arrival by acclaiming a “dream come true”, while La Repubblica hailed a “117 million-euro dream”, referring to the huge investment Juventus will make in their marquee signing.

La Repubblica breaks down the cost of the deal to Juventus as €100 million euros going to Real Madrid, a five million-euro “solidarity contribution” paid to FIFA and 12 million “incidental costs”.

The Corriere della Sera believes that the latter sum is actually the commission being paid to those who facilitated the transfer — principally Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes.

The front page of Italy’s principal sport daily Gazzetta Dello Sport has Ronaldo exclaiming “I’m coming!” after what it calls “the coup of the century”. Rome-based paper Il Messaggero meanwhile, acclaimed club president Andrea Agnelli for pulling of the “deal of the century”.

“A spark has been lit, let us rejoice,” said Corriere Della Sera columnist and Juventus fan Pierluigi Battista.

“And to think that we saw him as unpleasant, CR7 . . . with his arrogant attitude, statuesque posing and perfectly defined muscles,” continued Battista.

“But he was applauded by the whole stadium for a scissor kick of absolute beauty that he inflicted on Juventus (in the first leg of the quarter-final of last season’s Champions League). We understood that this beauty could and should be ours.”

Turin-based daily La Stampa, owned by the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group that is in turn the majority shareholder in Juventus, claimed that “everyone will watch us”.

“Just think that he has more than 300 million followers on social networks, that he is known in every corner of the globe and that he is one of the five most famous celebrities on the planet. Suffice to say that there will be a positive impact not just for Juve but for the whole of Italian football.”

Sports daily Corriere dello Sport led with “Fiat Lux”, a play on the Latin phrase meaning “let there be light” and the world famous car brand. Italian media reports that Ronaldo will be unveiled, after a medical, on Monday morning at Juve’s state-of-the-art Allianz Stadium, where he is set to receive more standing ovations like the one given to him by Juve fans in the spring. — Soccer24/Reuters.