Comparing Burnley, Preston and Blackburn Rovers' highest paid player | OneFootball

The hierarchy of Lancashire clubs was fully asserted last season when Burnley stormed to the Championship title under Vincent Kompany.

Following a six year stay in the top flight of English football, the Clarets finally succumbed to relegation, but under their Belgian head coach they blew most of their opposition away in 2022-23 to make it back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

They left their bitter rivals Blackburn Rovers and fellow North West outfit Preston North End behind, with the former just missing out on the play-offs on goal difference and the latter falling away in April despite challenging at one point for the top six earlier that month.

Since then, Burnley have gone through a lot of changes to try and adapt to the Premier League once more but are looking like they will struggle to survive the drop, and Blackburn have also been struggling in the Championship this season too after the Venky's cut the playing budget over the summer.

PNE though are once more vying for a play-off spot, although whether they make it remains to be seen - for now though, let's compare the ESTIMATED highest earner at each of the three Lancashire club's, with the financial figures provided by Capology.

Burnley's highest paid player

Burnley's promotion to the Premier League in 2023 meant that several of their players from that squad will have likely received wage bumps thanks to their achievements.

And whilst Kompany made several signings to strengthen his squad, there was a lack of real proven top flight talent in there that would have commanded a huge salary.

Therefore, it isn't that much of a shock to see two of Burnley's players from last season as their estimated top earners, with both Josh Brownhill and Jack Cork earning £45,000, according to Capology's estimates.

Cork and Brownhill are the captain and vice-captain for the Clarets respectively, but one has been featuring more often than the other in the top flight this season.

By the end of January, Cork had only played twice in the league, whilst Brownhill is pretty much starting week in, week out in the middle of the park.

Both players are out of contract however at the end of the 2023-24 season, so there's a chance that Burnley could be shedding two massive wages off their books come July.

Even though Blackburn have been bringing through plenty of youth talents through the ranks over the last few years, they still have some experienced individuals that are keeping their wage bill pretty populated.

And one of those is centre-back Dominic Hyam, who Capology estimate is the highest-paid player at Ewood Park, earning a weekly wage of £16,923.

The centre-back, who earned his first cap for the Scotland national team in 2023, linked up with Rovers in August 2022, adding some much-needed experience at the back for Jon Dahl Tomasson, and in his first year at the club he picked up the Player of the Year and also Players' Player of the Year awards.

That shows how important the 28-year-old is when he is fit and firing, and it's hard to argue that he's not worth the wage he's currently estimated to be earning.

Preston North End's highest paid player

Capology have estimated that three North End players are on £15,000 a week - Freddie Woodman, Ali McCann and Greg Cunningham.

Woodman arrived from Newcastle United in the summer of 2022 and has been PNE's starting goalkeeper ever since, and with a Championship Golden Glove to his name during a past loan stint with Swansea City, it's not a surprise that the 26-year-old is up there as the club's best-paid players.

McCann meanwhile signed a new deal in early January with PNE, having been at the club since deadline day of the 2021 summer transfer window when he arrived from St. Johnstone of Scotland.

An established Northern Ireland international, the midfielder is again likely to be well paid by PNE, but the name of Cunningham is somewhat of a surprise.

The Republic of Ireland international defender earned a move from Deepdale to then-Premier League outfit Cardiff City in 2018, which would have seen his wage go up considerably.

He returned to North End in 2021, but he only signed a short-term contract extension last summer until the end of December until appearances triggered an extension until the end of the 2023-24 campaign - it is hard to believe that the 33-year-old is on such a wage, but that is what has been estimated.