How Gary Rowett actually feels about Leicester City players being 'overpaid' | OneFootball

Gary Rowett has addressed whether he believes his newly-inherited, relegation-threatened Leicester City squad is an 'overpaid' one

Leicester City have endured a dismal 2025/26 Championship campaign both on and off-the-pitch, with the crossover of the two issues combining to leave the Foxes staring down the barrel as the prospect of relegation to League One continues to intensify heading into the final stages of the season.

The East Midlands side suffered relegation out of the Premier League alongside Ipswich Town and Southampton last season after winning the second-tier title the year before under Enzo Maresca, although they have fallen some way short of threatening to trouble the promotion picture in what has proved a wretched term at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester had been on-course to secure a middling mid-table finish, but now find themselves fighting desperately against relegation following the punishment of a six-point deduction for breaching English Football League financial rules during the 2023/24 campaign.

The Foxes' fortunes have worsened in recent times, with their last league victory coming all the way back at the start of January against fellow strugglers West Bromwich Albion - who themselves are positioned just one point and place above City.

Since then, Leicester have lost five of their nine subsequent Championship fixtures heading into tomorrow's daunting trip to promotion hopefuls Ipswich, and that form alongside the deducted points has created a very plausible scenario in which the former Premier League champions could be stricken by successive relegations from the top-flight to League One.

Gary Rowett will be hoping to stop the rot after stepping in last month following the sacking of Marti Cifuentes, but his start to life in Leicestershire has been less-than-ideal and the ex-Derby County, Birmingham City and Oxford United boss has now weighed in on a topical issue involving the Foxes squad.

Gary Rowett explains whether he thinks Leicester City players are overpaid

Having retained many players who signed for big sums on Premier League contracts, supporters have rightly questioned the club's recruitment policy, financial savviness and, in turn, whether Leicester players are drastically overpaid.

According to Capology, a site which provides estimated information on player and club salaries, Leicester have the Championship's highest yearly wage bill by shelling out £822,500 weekly and £42,770,000 per annum.

While that information is, of course, merely estimated, it's reasonable to assume that the Foxes do indeed have the division's highest wage bill courtesy of years of misspending at Premier League level, and given what has been served up on the pitch this term, it must be no surprise that fans have questioned just how merited certain contracts at the King Power may actually be.

Rowett, however, has a different outlook, and explained how he senses belief and commitment from a group of players who have often been accused of being overpaid and not caring.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow's trip to Suffolk, Rowett told the Leicester Mercury: "We've only been here just over a week, I'm not expecting, I'd love to see, but I'm not expecting incredible performances straight away in every single game.

"I think we've had two positive, one half of not so positive. That's fine. It gives me little clues. It gives me messages about what I think we need to do.

"I think every game that passes that we don't get a positive result I think the players, that feeling heightens a little bit, we start to realise that games aren't going to be here forever.

"But I don't want to add to that. I don't want to add to that feeling of every time we lose a game there's no point in me walking in and having a go at the players every single time.

"I think we still have to be constructive. I think the players were left after the game in no uncertain terms of what I think we need to do better in games. But I also see a clear desire to try and improve that themselves.

"I think there's always an easy narrative from outside that players don't care and players are overpaid or whatever that might be. But I haven't seen that within the group.

"I've seen a group that cares, that wants to do well, that maybe are just not playing quite with the same freedom and confidence that good results and a better position in the table help you to do so.

"So let's see what happens. It's the next game, that's what we focus on and we learn again from whatever happens."

Leicester City players must prove Gary Rowett right as relegation threat looms

Rowett has put a lot of faith into his players and didn't shy away from publicly defending the group at such a concerning stage of the season for Leicester, and the 52-year-old now needs to see vindication for exactly that.

Leicester are inside the relegation zone heading into the final two months of the season and, despite claiming respectable draws away at both Stoke City and Middlesbrough in Rowett's opening two matches in charge, they're yet to show enough to convince the Foxes faithful that this is a group of players capable of digging in and grinding out results when the going gets tough.