Sheffield United v Sheffield Wednesday: Owners wealth, wage bill, highest paid player compared | OneFootball

We compared the owners wealth, wage bill and highest paid player of Steel City rivals Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

Steel City rivals Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday are back in the same division for the first time in five years this season.

Sheffield United were relegated from the Premier League last season after just one year in the top flight, and they achieved an incredibly disappointing total of just 16 points over the course of the campaign.

It looked as though Sheffield Wednesday were destined to make an immediate return to League One last season, but they secured survival after a remarkable turnaround under Danny Rohl, meaning that they are reunited with their South Yorkshire neighbours in the Championship this term.

While the Blades and the Owls are back in the same division, they are likely to have different ambitions over the coming year, with the former targeting an immediate return to the Premier League and the latter focusing on consolidating in the Championship.

As the pair prepare to meet in the hotly-anticipated Steel City derby at Bramall Lane on Sunday 10th November, we compared the wealth of the owners of the two clubs, as well as their wage bills and highest paid players.

Comparing the wealth of Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday's owners

United owner Prince Abdullah first became involved with the club when he purchased a 50% stake in September 2013, and after a lengthy legal battle, he took full control in September 2019 when co-owner Kevin McCabe was forced to sell his 50% share for £5 million.

When he arrived at Bramall Lane, The Telegraph claimed that Prince Abdullah had a personal wealth of $18 billion, but he emphatically denied those reports, and the Daily Mail have since revealed that his net worth is £198 million.

Prince Abdullah founded a paper manufacturing company called the SPMC Group in Saudi Arabia in 1989, and it became one of the largest companies in the Middle East before he sold his shares in 2016, while he has also been involved with a number of football clubs over the years, including Beerschot, La Berrichonne de Châteauroux and Kerala United.

It has been known that Prince Abdullah has been keen to sell the Blades for some time, and he has been in negotiations with an American consortium in recent months, but it is believed that his asking price of £110 million is proving to be a stumbling block to any potential sale.

Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri bought the club from Milan Mandaric for £37.5 million in January 2015, and it is fair to say it has been a turbulent nine-and-a-half years under his ownership.

Chansiri almost achieved his ambition of guiding the Owls to the Premier League in his first two years at the club, but their fortunes have declined since then, and supporters protested against him on a number of occasions last season.

Some of the discontent has eased over the last few months after Chansiri provided Rohl with backing in the transfer market this summer, but there are still many who are unconvinced that he is the right man to take the club forward.

Chansiri's exact personal wealth is unknown, but his family's company, the Thai Union Group, is the world's biggest producer of canned tuna and has a revenue of $4.2 billion, while according to Forbes, his father Kraisorn has a net worth of $575 million, which placed him 42nd on the list of Thailand's 50 richest people in 2020.

Sheffield United have a bigger wage bill than Sheffield Wednesday

It is perhaps not surprising given that they have spent three of the last five years in the Premier League, but United have a significantly bigger wage bill than Wednesday.

According to Capology, the Blades have a weekly payroll of £439,000 and an annual payroll of £22,828,000, and that is much higher than Wednesday, who are believed to have a weekly payroll of £297,038 and an annual payroll of £15,446,000, although it should be stressed that these figures are an estimate.

Last season, United were said to have had a weekly payroll of £699,000 and an annual payroll of £36,348,000 in the Premier League, so that has been vastly reduced following relegation.

Wednesday's weekly and annual payrolls this season are also slightly lower than last term, but Chansiri is known to prefer to invest in wages rather than transfer fees, and that is a policy he is likely to stick with in future windows.

Comparing Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday's highest paid player

The issue of wages has long been a subject of debate between United and Wednesday supporters, particularly since Blades manager Chris Wilder referred to the Owls as a "very, very powerful football club, with big-hitters, lads on 40-grand a week" after a 0-0 draw between the two teams at Bramall Lane in November 2018.

The balance of power in South Yorkshire has shifted in United's favour since then, and their current highest paid contracted player is striker Rhian Brewster, who takes home £35,000 per week and £1,820,000 per year, although it should be stressed once again that these figures are an estimate.

Brewster has struggled to deliver since joining the Blades for a club-record fee of £23.5 million in October 2020, but Wilder still has plenty of faith in the 24-year-old, and he will be hoping to earn his second promotion with the club this season.

Wednesday's highest paid player is captain Barry Bannan, who is estimated to receive £24,038 per week and £1,250,000 per year.

Bannan arrived at Hillsborough on a free transfer from Crystal Palace in the summer of 2015, and having established himself as something of a club legend over the past decade, he is still arguably the Owls' most influential player.