The £54k fine handed out to Yaya Toure for drink-driving is rumoured to be the biggest financial penalty handed out for such an offence, according to the Telegraph.
Manchester City star Toure was given the hefty fine after being found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol at Barkingside Magistrates' Court on Monday alongside an 18-month ban from driving.
The former Ivory Coast international was found to have 75 micrograms of alcohol in his breath - more than double the 35 micrograms allowed - when he was pulled over by police in Dagenham, East London, on November 28 after apparently driving over the 30mph speed limit.
Toure pleaded guilty to the offence, despite insisting that he was devout Muslim and, therefore, was not allowed to consume alcohol. He did, however, accept that a jug of diet Coke, that he was drinking from, contained brandy and admitted to feeling "tired" as he left a party ahead of the incident.
District Judge Gary Lucie accepted that Toure had not set out to get drunk, despite being the designated driver on the night, but refuted the 33-year-old's claims that he was not aware of the alcohol present in his drink.
Lucie said: "It appears to me that whilst you may not have knowingly consumed alcohol it should have been clear to you that you were in fact drinking alcohol at some point before you took the decision to drive.
Yaya Toure banned from road but says he did not mean to drink alcohol https://t.co/bFjB1ryXJT
"The reading is a high one and it is inconceivable that you were unaware of having consumed alcohol.�
Had Toure not confessed to the charge, he would have potentially been in line to receive a fine of around £80k for pleading not guilty - a fee which is still only a quarter of his alleged monthly wage packet at City.
Toure was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £170 victim surcharge, while his 18-month driving ban was cut to a mere 18 weeks after he agreed to undergo a drink-drive rehabilitation course. The fine and ban come a year after Toure escaped being convicted of a similar offence when he was caught speeding at 101mph in his Porsche.
Read more from Tom Power by following him on Twitter!