How Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City's wage bills will compare to the rest of Championship | OneFootball

Comparing the wage bills of the relegated Premier League trio with the rest of the Championship

Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton have all suffered relegation straight back to the Championship.

The three clubs gained promotion 12 months ago, but were unable to survive in the top flight beyond one campaign. This is the second year in a row in which the three promoted sides have all been relegated back to the second division.

With Leeds United, Burnley and the eventual play-off winner set to go in the opposite direction, they will all be aiming to break that trend next season.

In the meantime, here we use estimated figures from Capology to see how the recently relegated trio’s wage bills compare to the rest of the teams remaining in the Championship.

Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich’s wage bills

Leicester have the biggest wage bill of the three clubs coming down to the Championship, with the Foxes estimated to be paying around £1.2 million per week to their first-team squad.

Their highest-paid player is Jamie Vardy, who is departing the club at the end of the campaign, meaning that will free up £140,000 per week from their wage bill.

Harry Winks, Boubakary Soumaré and Ricardo Pereira are their next highest-paid players, with the former earning £90,000 per week and the latter pair both on £80,000-a-week.

Meanwhile, Southampton’s weekly wage bill comes to £971,000, with Aaron Ramsdale being their estimated top earner.

The goalkeeper arrived in the summer from Arsenal, and is on a salary of £120,000 per week.

The next highest paid players in the squad are the duo of Jan Bednarek and Joe Aribo, with the pair both earning £70,000 each per week.

Ipswich’s wage bill amounts to £784,000, which is almost half the size of Leicester’s, with the Tractor Boys earning back-to-back promotions to get into the Premier League from League One under Kieran McKenna.

Their highest-paid permanent player is Axel Tuanzebe, with the defender earning £40,000-a-week.

Other high earners include Arijanet Muric and Dara O’Shea, with the pair both on £35,000 per week, with Sam Morsy and Ben Johnson also on £30,000-a-week each.

Highest paid players in the Championship

The highest-paid permanent player in the Championship this season is Patrick Bamford, with the Leeds United forward earning £70,000 per week.

Leeds have four of the five best paid players in the division, including Junior Firpo (£60,000 per week), Pascal Struijk (£50,000) and Dan Jamezs (£50,000), with player-turned-manager Aaron Ramsey rounding out the top five from the relegated Cardiff City (£50,000).

It will come as no surprise, then, that the Whites have the largest payroll in the entire division.

The Yorkshire outfit claimed the Championship title with 100 points, beating out Burnley due to a superior goal difference, while paying £707,500 per week to their squad.

The Clarets are second in this table as well, paying £567,500-a-week, with third-place side Sheffield United also coming third here with a weekly wage cost of £522,500.