How does Ipswich Town's estimated wage bill compare to the top Championship clubs? | OneFootball

The Tractor Boys look set to be relegated immediately back to the Championship

After enjoying two thrilling campaigns which saw the club rise from League One to the Premier League, Ipswich Town's stay in the top flight looks set to be incredibly short-lived.

It was always going to be an intriguing season at Portman Road, as Kieran McKenna earned a reputation as one of the United Kingdom's best homegrown talents on the managerial circuit, especially after recording 96 points in last season's Championship, beating the likes of Leeds United and Southampton to automatic promotion.

In recent years, much has been made of the financial and on-pitch gap between the second tier's best clubs and those who are established in the Premier League, yet continue to flounder in the division's bottom half.

Such circumstances have been echoed by Opta's recent predictions, with the data-driven organisation predicting the Tractor Boys, Saints and Leicester City to be the worst trio of newly-promoted sides in Premier League history, with Town and the Foxes currently nine points adrift of 17th-placed Wolves.

With it looking likely that Ipswich will return to the second tier at the conclusion of the season, FLW has looked at how the wage bill in East Anglia compares to the top sides in the division.

Ipswich Town's wage bill has increased significantly in the Premier League

Since gaining promotion, Ipswich have made 22 arrivals in the summer and winter transfer windows in order to give themselves the best possible chance of survival, with an estimated spend of €152.95m (£127.72m) on the likes of club-record signing Omari Hutchinson, Jaden Philogene, Liam Delap, Jacob Greaves and Jack Clarke among others.

Estimated figures from Capology state that last season, the Blues' wage bill of £286,308 was the 14th-highest in the second tier, with Mark Ashton's weekly payroll after promotion taking a sizeable £483,692 increase to the £770,000 mark.

This figure is still the lowest out of the 20 Premier League sides, with Brentford's weekly payroll of £803,000 next in line.

Unsurprisingly, Town's highest earners are both current loanees, with former Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips - recently linked with an Elland Road return - at the top of the list with a £150,000 per-week wage, with Ben Godfrey behind him, taking home £75,000 in that regard.

At present, the highest earner who is currently contracted long-term at Portman Road is versatile full-back, Axel Tuanzebe, who earns an estimated £40,000 per week.

According to Capology, the division's current top three in the table also have the highest wage bills, with Leeds also top on this particular front with an estimated weekly wage bill of £715,500.

Burnley may be second to United, but a deficit of £139,500 in comparison to their promotion rivals in wages may come as a surprise, despite the finances at Leeds' disposal under the ownership of 49ers Enterprises.

Sheffield United, recently taken over by American investment group, COH Sports, are third with an estimated weekly payroll of £558,000 at Bramall Lane.

However, Ipswich's current wage bill would continue to trump all three of the aforementioned sides, with a gap of £49,500 between themselves and the West Yorkshire side, although that may alter if the two clubs are to swap places in the pyramid by the time May rolls around.

In terms of the division's highest-earning players, Phillips' weekly salary is also twice as much as Middlesbrough loanee Kelechi Iheanacho, who tops the charts in this particular metric, taking home a salary on a par with Godfrey's.