Two assists, a 6-0 win and a short post on social media. On Friday, Michael Olunga started a Qatar Stars League match for Al Arabi for the first time in seven months. He set up Oussama Tannane and Pablo Sarabia as Al-Shahania were taken apart, then wrote: “First start of the season since my injury in January. Worked hard for days like these.”
It was a quiet return for the Harambee Stars captain. It also revived the question that has followed him ever since he swapped Japan for Qatar at the start of 2021, and that Kenyan fans and the Nairobi press still keep asking: what does the Gulf actually pay him?
| Michael Olunga | At a glance |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 March 1994, Nairobi |
| Club | Al Arabi (Qatar), two-year deal signed July 2025 |
| Previous club | Al-Duhail, 2021 to 2025, club record scorer |
| Japan | 2020 J.League MVP and top scorer, 28 goals for Kashiwa Reysol |
| Kenya | Captain, 34 goals, one short of William Ouma's record |
| Estimated salary | About $1.95 million a year at Al-Duhail (Capology estimate) |
| Net worth | No reliable published figure |
From Kashiwa to Doha
Japan made him.
In 2020 he scored 28 league goals for Kashiwa Reysol, almost half of the club's 60. He became the first African named J.League MVP and took the scoring title too.
The year before, in the second tier, he had scored eight in a 13-1 win over Kyoto Sanga. Eight.
Al-Duhail moved for him in January 2021. Nation Sport put the transfer at an estimated Sh1 billion, and reported that Egypt's Pyramids had offered him a monthly salary of Sh12 million over three years before he chose Qatar instead. His farewell letter was simple: “I really enjoyed my time at a wonderful club called Reysol.”
Qatar did not slow him. Not one bit. He topped the league scoring charts in 2021-22 with 24 goals and in 2022-23 with 22. There was a league title, an Emir Cup and two Qatari Stars Cups. On 1 November 2024, a goal in a 6-2 win over Al Shamal made him Al-Duhail's all-time leading scorer.
Then, in July 2025, he crossed Doha.
What the salary figures say
Start with the honest part. No club has published his wages. Neither has the player. Estimates exist.
The most cited comes from Pulse Sports Kenya, which in January 2025 used the salary database Capology to put his Al-Duhail pay at about $1.95 million a year, roughly Ksh250 million by the outlet's own conversion. At the official rate of ₦1,332.47 to the dollar reported for 13 October 2026, that is about ₦2.6 billion. The same piece estimated his Kashiwa wage at around $1.8 million.
An older Pulse ranking, from June 2023, quoted a reported £37,500 a week. It named no source.
His Al Arabi terms have not been made public by the club, the player or the Kenyan press we checked. Any number on the current deal is a guess. Treat it as one. It runs for two years, which would take him to the summer of 2027.
Net worth? Murkier still. Several Kenyan blogs carry figures, but none cites a document or the player himself, so we are not repeating them.
A hard year at Al Arabi
It began well. Very well. Capital FM noted that he was only the second Kenyan to sign for the club after Dennis Oliech, who played there from 2003 to 2005. “I spent five great years at Al-Duhail, now I want to help Al-Arabi get back to the level where we belong,” he told Soccerway.
Then the body objected.
When Al Arabi announced in April that he had undergone pelvic surgery in Paris, Citizen Digital counted six goals in 14 league games. A comeback in September brought fresh stiffness, and he missed Kenya's opening AFCON 2027 qualifier against Eritrea at Nyayo.
Benni McCarthy, who had included him in a provisional squad of 38 before a scan picked up strains, did not hide his reasoning when he explained the decision on the eve of the game. “We want to avoid anything bad happening to him and losing him for a long time,” the Kenya coach said.
Friday's start suggests the rehab is done. Al Arabi are third, on 12 points after six games.
The view from Nairobi
In Kenya, the salary talk always hits the same wall.
His brace against Seychelles in September 2025 took him level with Oliech on 34 international goals, one behind William Ouma, who played for Kenya from 1965 to 1977. Then injury. Nothing since. With Kenya co-hosting AFCON 2027 alongside Uganda and Tanzania, the timing is perfect for one more. “Whenever the country needs me, I'll always be there,” he said last year.
He keeps his private life largely out of view. What is public is the engineering studies behind the nickname “The Engineer”, and a road that ran through Sweden, China, Spain and Japan before the Gulf.
Our view
Anyone who follows how African stars are paid, from Relebohile Mofokeng to the richest footballers in Ghana, knows the pattern. The bigger the reported number, the thinner the paper trail. Olunga's case? Cleaner than most: a credible estimate for his Al-Duhail years, an honest blank for Al Arabi, nothing solid on net worth.
The output is not in doubt.
If the pelvis holds, the one figure Nairobi truly cares about could change before Kenya kick off their own tournament next year, and no salary database will be needed to confirm it.
This article was most recently revised and updated 36 seconds ago
