How much Birmingham City may need to fork out in wages to sign Wolves' Tommy Doyle | OneFootball

Tommy Doyle is set to join Blues on loan from their local rivals

Birmingham City's return to the Championship has coincided with plenty of hype and excitement, with many intrigued to see how Chris Davies' side will fare in the upcoming season.

Blues romped to the League One title by smashing the EFL's all-time points total (111), with the former Tottenham Hotspur assistant crafting an extremely efficient outfit together during his first season as manager.

This also coincided with the Second City club smashing their own financial records, as Jay Stansfield's permanent switch from Fulham brought plenty of focus to St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, and it is expected that Tom Wagner is set to continue backing Davies and rival the likes of Leicester City, Ipswich and Southampton for transfer targets.

A plethora of high-profile names have been linked with a potential move to this part of the West Midlands, with FLW exclusively revealing how the club are set to beat newly-promoted Sunderland to the signature of Tommy Doyle, who currently plies his trade with local rivals, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Birmingham City set to beat Sunderland for Tommy Doyle capture

As per FLW's exclusive, Blues are set to complete an initial loan move for the 23-year-old, who has been at Molineux for the past two seasons, initially in another loan move from Manchester City before joining permanently for a reported £4.3m under Gary O'Neil last summer.

The Black Cats, who recently ended their eight-year exile from the Premier League last month with a stunning comeback against Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final, were said to be keen on securing the combative midfielder's services on a temporary basis, as well as the highly-ambitious Wrexham, who finished runners-up to Birmingham in League One.

However, Blues are set to edge out the aforementioned competition for an initial loan deal, which will also include an option-to-buy at the conclusion of the season.

Under Wagner's ownership, the club haven't been afraid to flex their financial power, with a swoop for the Man City academy graduate yet another example. With that being said, FLW has looked into how much the B9 club may need to spend on wages as a deal for the midfielder edges closer.

How much Birmingham City may need to spend on wages for Tommy Doyle

According to Capology - a site which ESTIMATES player earnings - Doyle is earning a weekly sum of £10,000 in the Black Country, which equates to an annual figure of £520,000.

For context, the average weekly wage across Vitor Pereira's squad last season was £29,574, meaning the former Sheffield United loanee falls way below such figures, and in turn, makes the proposition of a loan move with an option-to-buy even more attractive for Birmingham.

Unsurprisingly, Doyle is one of the lowest earners in WV1 at present, with the likes of Chem Campbell, Joe Hodge, Dexter Lembikisa and Nigel Lonwijk all directly below his eight-figure sum last term, although all the quartet spent last campaign on loan deals away from Molineux.

Capology also estimates that one of the players Doyle will be competing with for a starting berth at St Andrew's - Seung-Ho Paik - was the fourth-highest earner on Blues' books last season behind Krystian Bielik, Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Rangers loanee, Ben Davies.

Tommy Doyle will immediately enhance Birmingham City's midfield options

Whilst his permanent spell at Molineux hasn't gone to plan, this is a deal which benefits all parties involved at least in the short-term, and Doyle's profile will immediately enhance Davies' midfield options.

Despite still being relatively young, the technically-gifted Manchester-born man already has the experience of 52 second-tier appearances to call upon for Sheffield United and Cardiff City. Therefore, the intensity and physical nature of the division won't be as much of a shock to his system.

Davies mainly operated with Paik and Tomoki Iwata last season, and both are expected to feature heavily and, in the latter's case, adapt well to the Championship after an impressive campaign in League One. However, the initial loan and potential permanent swoop for Doyle will raise questions about the future of Marc Leonard, who has also impressed but also found regular minutes hard to come by, and those prospects will only decrease further in this case.