Lionel Messi remains the best-paid footballer in the world, according to a France Football study. (Photo: VCG)

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar remain the three best-paid footballers in the world, according to a study by France Football magazine.

The study estimates the income of the world's highest-paid players by adding their estimated gross salaries and income from image rights to bonuses earned last season.

As a result, the publication calculates Barcelona star Messi's total annual income as 141 million US dollars.

That puts the Argentine ahead of Ronaldo, with the Portuguese forward second on the list with 127 million US dollars of estimated income.

Paris Saint-Germain's Brazil star Neymar, who moved to France from Barcelona for a world record transfer fee in 2017, is third on the list with total pay of 102 million US dollars, way ahead of Real Madrid's Gareth Bale.

The Welshman is fourth on the list with 41.7 million US dollars.

Meanwhile, according to the magazine, Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone is the best-paid coach with total wages of 43.7 million US dollars, way ahead of Antonio Conte at Inter Milan on 32.3 million US dollars and Pep Guardiola at Manchester City on 29 million US dollars.