The highest earning nationality in Europe’s top 5 leagues may surprise you

The best paid nationality among the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1? Take a guess.

Spain you might think, Brazilians must be valuable, Germans have to making a fair wedge. Wrong, wrong, wrong. In fact, the highest earning nationality of player across the so-called "big five" is a tie between Belgian and Montenegro. Players from Belgium earn a staggering average of $3.72m (€3.31m) a year with Kevin de Bruyne likely to drive that number up if his move to Manchester City finally goes through. The research found that the likes of Marouane Fellaini, Thibaut Courtois and Vincent Kompany and the other 31 Belgians across Europe's top leagues were raking it in while Montenegro's Stevan Jovetic must be shouldering quite a lot of the wages going to the six Montenegrin players. The figures were compiled by SportingIntelligence.com who produce a breakdown of global sports surveys each year and the numbers make a little bit more sense when you consider the fact that the high number of active Italian, Spanish and French players is driving down the numbers. But it makes for surprising reading to see the likes of the England, Netherlands and Portugal so low down on the list while poor ol' Ireland are languishing in 23rd spot. Let's get our lads paid!