Is Eto'o's new salary the best in sport?

Samuel Eto'o's move from Internazionale to Anzhi Makhachkala is not only going to make him the best-paid player in football history, but likely the sportsman who pockets the best salary in any sport according to the Wall Street Journal.

The striker is set to earn a reported 25 million euros per year (£21.8m), sending him well clear of multi-millionaire football stars such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Aguero.

The Wall Street Journal claims that it also puts him ahead of the top stars of US Sports like basketball, American football and baseball and lists Ferrari Formula One driver Fernando Alonso as the only man who can rival Eto'o in terms of pure salary (not including endorsements).

Alonso is paid an estimated $40 million a year (£24.2) by Ferrari but the tax breaks Eto'o is expected to earn in Russia would put him ahead of the Spanish star.

When considering all earnings, not just salary or prize money, Tiger Woods is still the world's top earning sportsman according to Forbes magazine's respected rich list published at the end of May.

Woods still earned an estimated $75 million over the past 12 months (£45.5m) even though all his troubles on and off the course has seen his annual earnings drop by around $50 million over the last two years.

Second on the Forbes list was LA Lakers' basketball star Kobe Bryant who made $53 million (£32.2) in the last year.

Forbes estimated that Eto'o made a total of 8 millions euros (£7.02m) last year, which included endorsements from the likes of Puma and Ford on top of his salary at Inter.

Eto'o's new club is based in the troubled southern Russian region of Dagestan, and the Cameroon international is set to sign a three-year contract.

Anzhi are owned by billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, and have made an impressive recruitment spree, bringing in stars such as Brazil legend Roberto Carlos and ex-Chelsea winger Yuri Zhirkov.

Eto'o, 30, won two Champions League titles with Barcelona before joining Inter in 2009. He won a Serie A, Italian Cup and Champions League treble in his first season in Italy.