Jonathan Mensah is the top-earning Ghanaian player in Major League Soccer, earning just under $850 000 annually in basic salary and bonuses.
The Black Stars midfielder, who plays for Columbus Crew, earns almost 200 percent more than countryman Harrison Afful, while Latif Blessing - the best player in the Ghana Premier League last season - will have to play for 10 years on his current salary to match Mensah.
Yet Mensah and David Accam, who is on $820 000 a year, are still earning considerably less than the top 20 in the league, who are on around $1.5m a year. The top earner in MLS is former World Player of the Year Kaká, who is on a staggering $7million-per-year.
At the current exchange rate, Mensah pocket GHS3.6million annually, and GHS 300 000 a month. Just recently there was a national outcry about salaries of chief executives, with the GHS75 000-per-month salary of the Ghana Cocoa Board particularly heavily criticised.
The numbers also sheds light on how the gap in earnings in football in Europe and USA is closing, with Mensah pocketing more than a lot of Ghanaian players plying their trade in the more glamorous environments of Europe. However, he is still some way behind the reported £100 000-a-week Andre Ayew pockets at West Ham United.