How much Josh Murphy earns at Portsmouth as Leicester City handed big boost | OneFootball

Pompey will be without the services of their key winger at the King Power Stadium

With league action returning this weekend, both Leicester City and Portsmouth will be hoping to back up impressive victories prior to the October international break when they face off at the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Championship table remains extremely congested at this moment in time, meaning a rather surprise victory for John Mousinho's side could lift them to within a point of the Foxes, who propelled themselves up to third place with a dominant 3-1 success at Swansea City last time out.

However, Marti Cifuentes' men will be under no illusions as to how difficult it is for many sides to take a share of the points away from Pompey, who put an end to Middlesbrough's unbeaten second tier start under Rob Edwards before the recent two-week fixture gap, courtesy of Yan Min-hyoek's strike on 23 minutes.

It is fair to say that, at the beginning of the campaign, the two sides were viewed in completely different lights, albeit many still expect the South Coast side to continue making steady strides of progress under Mousinho's management after consolidating their position in the second tier by five points after winning the League One title back in 2023/24.

After proving themselves as tricky customers against Leeds United and Burnley last term, the Blues earned a point against their bitter rivals and newly-relegated Southampton on September 14th, before being edged out 2-1 by title favourites Ipswich Town just two weeks later.

However, their prospects of gaining another positive result on the road against previous Premier League opposition have been dealt a major blow, with it being revealed that key attacker, Josh Murphy, will be absent from the travelling party due to a persistent knee issue and, potentially, up until the clash with Stoke City on October 25th.

The 30-year-old's influence at Fratton Park is hard to understate, especially after a joint-league high of 14 assists last term which, ironically, caught the eye of Leicester in the final days of the transfer window.

With that being said, FLW has looked at how much the winger earns at Fratton Park, as per ESTIMATED figures from Capology.

The ex-Norwich City man moved to the South Coast on a free transfer last summer in rather controversial circumstances, having played a key role in Oxford United joining Pompey in the Championship following their League One play-off final success against Bolton Wanderers, in which he scored the last of his 10 goals for the Yellows.

Murphy, alongside Colby Bishop - who missed a fair chunk of last season due to open heart surgery - were key to swinging plenty of narrow contests in Pompey's favour in 2024/25, as they also owed plenty of their success down to strong home form and a resolute backline as the campaign drew on.

The experienced wide player went on to accumulate seven goals and double the amount of assists alongside Tom Fellows, then of West Bromwich Albion.

Whilst he hasn't been able to hit similar heights this term, largely as a result of the aforementioned injury niggles, Murphy is said to be earning just £5,000 per week as a base wage at Fratton Park - a figure which can rise to £6,250 per week if various bonuses are met.

This figure is an upgrade of £729 per week in comparison to what he was said to have collected per week at the Kassam Stadium, and is £15,000 per week behind Pompey's ESTIMATED highest-paid player in the form of John Swift, who returned to his hometown club this summer after leaving West Bromwich Albion.

Marti Cifuentes may be thankful Josh Murphy cannot hand Leicester City transfer regret

As previously mentioned, Murphy hasn't quite been able to match his output levels of last season thus far, and that has been backed up by the fact Mousinho's side rank in the bottom six when it comes to goals averaged and shots on target per match, as well as the number of big chances created.

Therefore, Cifuentes may be thankful that one of his prime summer targets cannot serve up a sense of transfer regret at the King Power, after Leicester saw a bid that fell way below Pompey's valuation of their key asset swiftly rejected two days before the recent transfer deadline.

It would have been intriguing to see if Murphy would have earned an immediate starting berth regardless of his versatile nature, with the East Midlands side possessing real quality out wide through the likes of Abdul Fatawu, Jeremy Monga and Stephy Mavididi, although the latter is yet to showcase his full ability under the Spaniard.