Essien, Muntari makes top 10 richest African footballers; Gyan out

Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari are the only Ghanaian players named among the latest top 10 richest African footballers list with Samuel Eto'o named at the top of the list while Asamoah Gyan has been left out.

Shockingly the list doesn't include Asamoah Gyan, Africa's highest paid footballer following his $350,000 per week earning with Chinese giants Shanghai SIPG.

French media company Footendirect conducted the research into the earnings and investments of the players before reaching its conclusion of the richest African footballers globally.

Greece-based Essien is said to be worth $60m following his stay with Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan and now Panathinaikos which puts him at the sixth position.

Muntari, who is currently based in Saudi Arabia, was ranked the 10th richest among African footballer with $40m following his days with Inter Milan, AC Milan and now Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad.

Samuel Eto'o leads the list of richest African footballers with investments in the telecommunications and real estate industries as well as food and restaurant chains in Spain and Italy.

He is said to be worth a staggering $202 million

Four-time African Footballer of the Year Yaya Toure lies in second position with $170 million while his compatriot Didier Drogba is third at $155 million.

But the research's decision to leave Asamoah Gyan out of the list will cast a huge doubt over the authenticity of the list.

Africa’s top 10 richest footballers

Samuel Eto’o (Antalyaspor): $202 million

Yaya Touré (Manchester City): $170 million

Didier Drogba (Montreal): $155 million

Jay-Jay Okocha (: $150 million

Nwankwo Kanu: $100 million

Mickaël Essien (Panathinaïkos): $70 million

Emmanuel Adebayor (Free Agent): $57 million

Obi Mikel (Chelsea): $50 million

Kolo Touré (Liverpool): $43 million

Sulley Muntari (Al-Ittihad): $40 million