How West Brom's wage bill compares to the rest of the Championship | OneFootball

We took a look at how the Baggies' wage bill compares to their Championship rivals

After making the Championship play-offs against the odds last season, Carlos Corberan's West Bromwich Albion side will be looking to go one better and win promotion to the Premier League this season.

The Baggies made a very promising start to the season and were flying high during the opening weeks of the campaign, but they've stuttered in recent weeks and will be looking to get back on track.

There's no doubt that West Brom will be there or thereabouts this season, and as one of the bigger clubs in the division, you can always expect them to be pushing for the top six at the minimum.

With that in mind, we've taken a look at West Brom's wage bill for the 2024/25 campaign and compared it to their Championship rivals to see whether Corberan's side are overachieving, underachieving, or performing in line with their budget.

It must be stressed that we are using Capology for this data so it's an estimate rather than being 100% accurate, but it still provides us with an excellent insight into player wages and how much clubs are spending.

According to Capology, West Brom have the third-highest wage bill in the division, with only Leeds United and Burnley spending more on wages.

Capology states that the Baggies spend a huge £441,500 a week on wages, which equates to £22,958,000 a year.

Leeds United, who have the highest wage bill in the division, spend £708,000 a week on wages, working out as £36,816,000 a year, £13,860,000 a year more than West Brom do.

Burnley, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, have the second-highest wage bill in the division despite them offloading a number of high-profile players in the summer, and they spend £596,000 a week on wages, working out as £30,992,000 a year.

The Baggies are closely followed by the likes of Sheffield United and Luton, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, with West Brom spending just £2,500 a week more on wages than the Blades do.

Given the fact that West Brom's parachute payments would have come to an end after the 2023/24 season, as it's been more than three seasons since relegation from the Premier League, it's something of a surprise to see them with the division's third-largest wage bill.

The differences in financial spending power are clear to see in the Championship, with Portsmouth having the lowest wage bill in the league with a spend of just £138,000 a week, working out as just £7.2 million a year, £15 million less than what West Brom spend each season.

Making the play-offs should be a non-negotiable for West Brom given their wage bill

As they have the third-highest wage bill in the division this season, anything less than making the play-offs should be seen as a failure for Corberan's side.

Of course, spending big money doesn't always guarantee success, but it certainly helps, and while there's always the odd anomaly, teams that spend the most will often outperform sides that don't spend as much.

There's no denying that West Brom have somewhat faltered in recent weeks and they need to get back on track soon to ensure they don't fall too far away from the automatic promotion places.

With the third-highest wage bill in the league, West Brom should be targeting the automatic promotion places and if they don't finish in the top two, then finishing in the play-off places is certainly a non-negotiable.

It's set to be an important couple of weeks for the Baggies as they look to return to the Premier League after being relegated from the top flight in 2021.