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. As Oussama Tannane and Pablo Sarabia left, Al-Shahania later wrote: “First start of the season after my injury in January. I worked hard for days like this.”
It was a quiet return for the Harambee Stars captain. It also revived a question that has dogged him since he swapped Japan for Qatar in early 2021, and Kenyan fans and the Nairobi press continue to ask: What is Gulf really paying him?
| Michael Olunga | At a glance |
|---|---|
| was born | 26 March 1994, Nairobi |
| Club | Al Arabi (Qatar), signed a two-year contract in July 2025 |
| Previous club | Al-Duhail, 2021-2025, club record holder |
| Japan | 28 goals for 2020 J.League MVP and top scorer, Kashiwa Reysol |
| Kenya | Captain, 34 goals, one short of William Ouma’s record |
| Estimated salary | About $1.95 million per year at Al-Duhail (Capology estimate) |
| net worth | There is no reliable published figure |
Kashiwa to Doha
Japan made it.
In 2020, he has 28 league goals for Kashiwa Reysol, almost half of the club’s 60 goals. He became the first African to be named the J.League MVP and was also the top scorer.
A year ago, in the second round, he scored eight goals in a 13-1 win over Kyoto Sanga. Eight.
Al-Duhail moved for him in January 2021. Nation Sport put the transfer at around Sh1 billion and reported that Egypt’s Pyramids had offered him Sh12 million a month for three years before opting for Qatar instead. His farewell letter was simple: “I had a great time at a wonderful club called Reysol.”
Qatar did not slow him down. Not a bit. He topped the league scoring chart with 24 goals in 2021-22 and 22 goals in 2022-23. There was one league title, one Emir Cup and two Qatar Star Cups. On 1 November 2024, his goal in a 6–2 win over Al Shamal made him Al Duhail’s all-time top scorer.
It then passed Doha in July 2025.
What the salary figures say
Start with the honest part. No club has disclosed his salary. Neither does the player. Estimates are available.
Most quoted comes from Pulse Sports Kenya, who used salary database Capology to put Al-Duhail’s salary at around $1.95 million a year in January 2025, with the outlet’s own conversion at around Ksh250 million. At the official exchange rate of ₦1,332.47 per dollar as of October 13, 2026, this is approximately ₦2.6 billion. The same piece estimated his Kashiwa salary at around $1.8 million.
From June 2023, the old Pulse rating quotes £37,500 per week. He did not name the source.
His terms at Al Arabi have not been disclosed by the club, the player or the Kenyan media we checked. Any figure in the current deal is an estimate. Act like one. It lasts for two years, which will take it to the summer of 2027.
Net worth? Murkier still. A few Kenyan blogs have the numbers, but don’t cite any documents or the player himself, so we won’t repeat them.
A difficult year at Al Arabi
It started well. Very good. Capital FM noted that he is the second Kenyan to sign for the club after Dennis Oliech who played there from 2003-2005. “I’ve had 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 protested.
Citizen Digital counted six goals in 14 league games when Al Arabi announced he had undergone pelvic surgery in Paris in April. A return in September brought fresh stiffness and he missed Kenya’s opening AFCON 2027 qualifier against Eritrea in Nyayo.
Benny McCarthy, who included him in the provisional 38-man squad before the scan, made no secret of his reasoning when explaining the decision ahead of the game. “We want to avoid something bad happening to him and losing him for a long time,” the Kenyan coach said.
Friday’s start marks the end of rehab. Al Arabi is third with 12 points after 6 games.
The view from Nairobi
Salary talk in Kenya always hits the same wall.
Against Seychelles in September 2025, he became level with Oliech with 34 international goals, one behind William Ouma, who played for Kenya from 1965 to 1977. Then the injury. Nothing since then. With Kenya co-hosting AFCON 2027 along with Uganda and Tanzania, the timing is perfect for another one. “I will always be there when the country needs me,” he said last year.
He keeps his personal life largely out of the spotlight. The engineering research behind the nickname “The Engineer” and the route through Sweden, China, Spain and Japan before the gulf are known to the public.
Our vision
Anyone who follows how African stars get paid, from Relebohile Mofokeng to the richest footballers in Ghana, knows the pattern. The larger the reported number, the finer the paper footprint. Olunga’s job? Cleaner than most: A solid guess for Al Duhail years, an honest blank for Al Arabi, nothing solid in net worth.
The output is not in doubt.
If the bowl takes place, a number Nairobi are genuinely interested in could change before Kenya kicks off their tournament next year, and no salary cap will be needed to confirm it.
This article was last revised and updated 36 seconds ago