ROME, June 2 (Reuters) - Argentine striker Gabriela
Batistuta, now 31, will be paid a massive £4.75million-a-year when he joins AS Roma from Fiorentina.
Batistuta's salary - significantly above expectations -
will make him Italy's best paid player by far and among the
highest in the world.
Details of Batistuta's wages emerged on Friday when Roma
announced they had finalised terms of his £22.4million transfer.
His nearest rivals in the salary stakes are Juventus striker
Alessandro Del Piero, who earns £2.5million
a year and Christian Vieri of Inter Milan, on eight billion lire
($3.86 million).
Batistuta, who has a three-year contract with Roma, will
return to Italy from Argentina for his official presentation by
the club on Tuesday.
Batistuta, at Fiorentina for nine years, vowed earlier this
week in Buenos Aires to repay Roma in goals. He was Fiorentina's
greatest marksman, breaking the record of 1950s Swedish striker
Kurt Hamrin.
He joined Fiorentina from Boca Juniors in 1991 for £1.5million and has said the Tuscan team would remain 'in my heart'.