In 2011, the third highest paid player in the world after Ronaldo and Messi was a surprising name.
In fact, the couple has still held the first two positions on this chart for more than a decade. This is also reasonable because the salary comes with the contributions and popularity of these two players. However, the football world has witnessed special cases.
A little-known player who hasn’t even played for the national team yet still enjoys a sky-high salary, only inferior to Ronaldo and Messi! That story happened in 2011 and the main character is Dario Conca.
Guangzhou Evergrande pays the Argentine attacking midfielder up to 10.5 million euros/year, higher than most European superstars and equivalent to Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Of course, Conca has talent, but when he came to China, he was 28 years old and had never been called up to the Argentina national team. Many people believe there is something “shady” behind it, most likely a disguised “money laundering” deal. This invisibly puts tremendous pressure on this midfielder who is only as tall as Messi.
The Argentine midfielder was born in 1983 and grew up at River Plate’s training facility. However, Conca could not find a place at the famous Argentine football team. After many ups and downs, this small midfielder finally succeeded with Fluminense.
Conca contributed greatly to helping Fluminense win the Brazilian championship for the first time after more than 20 years of waiting and received the “Best Player of the Brazilian National Championship” award for 2 consecutive years (2009, 2010). By this time, many European teams began to pay attention to Conca. However, the turning point in the Argentine midfielder’s career came from Guangzhou Evergrande.
Conca himself did not imagine that he would become the third highest paid player in the world after Ronaldo and Messi at that time. So why did Guangzhou Evergrande give such a large salary to a little-known player like Conca?
Recalling that time, Conca shared: “I knew I had to stop when I was no longer happy. I started looking for other things. I have always loved playing golf, I practice 2-3 hours a day and look forward to competing. And through the Minigols brand, I also want to introduce curling to Chinese people even though people don’t seem to respond very well. In addition, I am also taking a coaching training course.”
During 3 years at Guangzhou Evergrande, Conca scored 54 goals in 99 matches, before returning to Fluminense in 2014, then to China again, with a stop at Shanghai SIPG. After 2 years in Shanghai, Conca also ended his career when he decided to hang up his shoes in 2016.
