A former Arsenal player who is now a television commentator says his peers are buying art with their huge Premier League salaries, according to this BusinessWeek report:

The average annual salary in the sport’s richest league was 1.6 million pounds ($2.7 million) in the 2012-13 season as payrolls rose 8 percent, backed by more sponsorship and match-day income, and as wealthy foreign owners handed out interest-free “soft loans” to clubs, according to Deloitte LLP’s Annual Review of Football Finance published today.

The league’s rising payrolls, which increased to a record 71 percent of total revenue according to Deloitte, are helping attract more talent from around the world. Some players are investing in buy-to-let properties in London’s Chelsea and Mayfair districts and “quite a few” are spending on art, according to Lee Dixon, a former Arsenal defender who is a match analyst for broadcaster ITV.

“They have so much expendable income they can do what they want to a certain extent,” Dixon said in a recent interview. “I know of English players who have invested in Picasso paintings and sculptures.”

Soccer Players Buy Picassos as Premier League Salaries Surge (Businessweek)