How much Southampton FC may have to pay Finn Azaz in wages as £12m Middlesbrough bid tabled | OneFootball

Southampton have made a bid for £12 million for Middlesbrough's Finn Azaz, and here's how much they may have to pay him should he go to St Mary's.

Southampton could be set to land Middlesbrough's Finn Azaz, with a £12 million bid having been made, but that's not the only expense that the Saints have to take into account.

With a win and a draw from their first two matches of the new season, Southampton have made a solid start to their return to the Championship. But the start of the new season doesn't mean the end of transfer dealings, with the summer transfer window open until the end of the month.

The Saints are currently fending off interest in Mateus Fernandes and Tyler Dibling from multiple Premier League clubs, but they're also still looking to bring in new recruits ahead of the closure of the summer window, and one of their targets is the Middlesbrough attacking midfielder Finn Azaz.

Southampton's £12 million bid for Finn Azaz isn't the only expense they have to consider

The Daily Mail has reported that Southampton have made a £12 million bid to Middlesbrough for Finn Azaz, who's impressed since joining them from Aston Villa in 2024.

There's no indication that Boro have accepted this offer, though with the amount being offered being this high, it's sure to turn heads.

But while the transfer fee is certainly headline-grabbing, it's not the only expense that the Saints will face, should the offer be accepted. The player's wages have to be taken into account as well, and that can be a substantial amount of money over the length of a contract.

Middlesbrough's Finn Azaz could expect a considerable pay increase from Southampton

Azaz scored 12 goals in 45 Championship games for Boro last season, making him their second-highest league goalscorer behind Tommy Conway. He also contributed twelve assists, the most of any Middlesbrough player, so his value to them - and his potential value to Southampton isn't difficult to establish.

But at 24-years-old, Azaz is a relatively young player, and as such his wage demands haven't been especially high so far. Capology estimate his Middlesbrough income to be £8,500-a-week, which puts him nowhere near the top 100-earning players in the division.

The going rate for players at the higher end of earnings in the Championship is firmly in the region of £20,000-a-week and up, and Azaz may well feel that he should be pushing up towards that sort of income. And this becomes all the more clear when we look at Southampton's current wage structure.

Southampton currently have 26 players earning more than the £8,500-a-week that Azaz is on at Middlesbrough, with the majority being on more than double that. As such, it doesn't seem unreasonable to suggest that the player should be due a considerable pay increase from the next potential step in his playing career.

He's demonstrated his ability, he's becoming an increasingly established international for the Republic of Ireland, and he's moving into the prime years of his playing career. Should this move go ahead, Middlesbrough shouldn't be the only ones to financially benefit from it. Finn Azaz himself will significantly do so as well, should he agree terms with the Saints.