Tricky question because club contracts with players are not generally made public, and it's tough to factor in things like exchange rates, endorsements and bonuses. That said, Wilkinson's contract with Toulon is said to be paying him a base salary of 700K Euros per year. See On the other hand, Chabal's contract with Racing Metro is said to be worth 1.8 Million Euros per year. See . I myself have difficulty believing that Chabal is considered that much more valuable than Wilkinson, although "l'Homme des Cavernes" does have a certain marketing value that Wilkinson lacks. Nor does he have Wilkinson's long history of knee injuries. And then again, these figures may not be completely up to date. But either of those contracts puts them somewhat ahead of the best paid players in the Super-15. That would be Carter and McCaw, whose contracts are rumoured to be worth a base of about 1 Million NZ per year. That could change though, at least as it applies to the Wilkinson contract, if the Euro keeps falling. So, all that said, it appears that the best paid player in the world right now is still Chabal.
It could be Wilkinson or Chabal but really its just guess work. Bill P mentioned Matt Giteau as a million dollar player which would be the second time round for him. Wasn't he paid a million dollars by the Western Force 3 or 4 years ?
I had thought that Toulon's Wilkinson and Giteau were the highest. Gits was reportedly signed for close to a million (Australian)
