Football League World
·5 October 2024
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·5 October 2024
Football League World takes a look at Cardiff City's top earning player, as per Capology estimates
Controversial Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan may have his faults in the eyes of supporters, although he has not been shy about handing out big contracts.
The financial purse-strings have been tightened in recent years, due to a myriad of mitigating circumstances.
From the natural economic backdrop of relegation from the Premier League to the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently the transfer embargo which Cardiff found themselves under amid the ongoing, and long-drawn-out Emiliano Sala court case with Nantes, the club have had to be more diligent in their business.
Tan himself has been burned in the past by forking out significant transfer fees for players who simply flattered to deceive, offering a paltry return on Cardiff's investment.
Cardiff did not stump up any sizable sums this summer, although they did make use of the free agent market and recruit some big-name acquisitions such as Anwar El Ghazi, Callum Chambers and Chris Willock.
Given the pedigree of some of Cardiff's signings, then, one could only imagine that they are earning a pretty penny at the club and, largely, that is exactly how it has turned out.
However, none of Cardiff's eight summer arrivals have overtaken the club's highest earner. That is according to Capology, a site which estimates weekly and annual player salaries.
With that in mind, Football League World has decided to take a look at who Capology estimates to be earning the highest weekly wage under Tan and just how they compare to the club's other earners.
As per Capology estimates, veteran midfielder Aaron Ramsey is Cardiff's highest weekly earner.
The site estimates that the former Arsenal star is collecting a staggering weekly wage of £50,000, which, if true, makes him the joint-third highest earner in the Championship after Leeds United duo Patrick Bamford and Junior Firpo - that measurement excludes loan players, of course.
It would come as a surprise if Ramsey is actually earning that much at a club who are no longer receiving parachute payments and have been forced to undertake cost-cutting exercises in recent years, although he will surely be a top earner regardless.
Ramsey returned to his boyhood club last summer in the twilight of a glittering career which has been spent largely at the game's highest levels, but it has not gone to plan.
The 33-year-old, who signed a two-year contract to join from Nice, missed the bulk of his first campaign through injury.
Unfortunately, the Wales national team skipper has recently been sidelined for the next two months after picking up a hamstring injury while away on international duty, and his current deal is set to expire at the end of the season.
There is an astounding gulf in earnings between Cardiff's two highest earners and the rest of the squad.
The aforementioned Chambers, who joined in the summer from Aston Villa and previously played alongside Ramsey during their shared days at Arsenal, was among Cardiff's more high-profile arrivals and is estimated to be earning a weekly wage of £45,000.
After Chambers, there are five players tied on £20,000 per week in Joe Ralls, Callum Robinson, El Ghazi Manolis Siopis and David Turnbull.
It must be said, though, given Chambers' wage, you would perhaps have expected El Ghazi to be earning a higher estimated weekly amount than he currently is.
Another former Villa man to head to the Cardiff City Stadium in recent times, El Ghazi has only ever spent two seasons of his career outside a domestic or foreign top-flight division at the age of 29 and will be hoping to exert his undoubted know-how and proven quality in the coming weeks and months.