The Sunday Telegraph has revealed that Newcastle are paying their notorious midfielder, Joey Barton, £675,000 per year for his image rights. Barton, who spent 11 weeks in prison last summer for common assault and affray, has the highest "image rights" deal at the club according to a well-placed source.

When a player signs for a club he has two options. Either he seeks to profit from selling his own image rights, or he lets the club use his image in exch¬ange for an annual payment.

This payment goes into the player's 'image company', many of which are based offshore. Almost all players opt for the latter.