Stephen Ireland instantly became the biggest earning star in the Aston Villa dressing room when he signed  earlier this week, but he has no qualms in insisting the likes of Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney are worthy of their lavish earnings.

“It’s not up to me to argue what any footballer should be paid and I don’t have any problem in saying I’m worth the money I’m getting now,” insists Ireland, who has just been handed a multi-million pound severance payment to leave Manchester City and join Aston Villa.

“I was City’s Player of the Year last season and things went well for me, so I earned the right to be paid the same as most of the other players who were in the team around me every week.

“A lot of my team-mates were on much bigger money than me at City for a long time and I’d say I have only been on what I would call decent money in the last year or so. People like Micah Richards and Michael Johnson earned more than me at times when they were not even in the first eleven.

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