How much Wrexham AFC may have to pay Kieffer Moore in wages if he signs from Sheffield United | OneFootball

Wrexham are being closely linked with Kieffer Moore, but strikers don't come cheap and even players who look like bargains are a significant outlay.

Wrexham are being linked with Sheffield United forward and Welsh international Kieffer Moore, but Championship strikers don't often come cheap.

Big changes are coming to Wrexham this summer following promotion to the Championship at the end of the 2024-25 season.

The Red Dragons were promoted in second place in League One behind runaway champions Birmingham City, but in order to maintain their upward trajectory of the last few years they're going to need renovation and replenishment.

The most obvious area that needs strengthening is their attack. Wrexham scored 67 goals in League One last season, and while that was enough to get them up, it was also the joint-third lowest goalscoring total in the top half of the division, with only Huddersfield Town and Lincoln City - who finished 10th and 11th respectively - below them.

Wrexham have sealed a deal for Sheffield Wednesday forward Josh Windass, but an even more ambitious move could be coming with reports from The Star of their interest in Kieffer Moore of Sheffield United.

Moore is a proven striker who's played in both the Premier League and the Championship before, but he might not be cheap for Wrexham to bring in.

Kieffer Moore is earning the same as Wrexham's current highest-earning player

Capology estimate that Kieffer Moore's current wage at Sheffield United is £25,000-a-week, an amount of money that sits comfortably in the middle of the Blades' current wage structure.

But this wouldn't be the case if he moved to Wrexham.

Matching the £25,000-a-week that he is on at Sheffield United would, according to Capology estimates, make him their joint-highest earner alongside Jay Rodriguez, and would mean that he would be earning more than double what the vast majority of Wrexham's other players.

Wrexham & Sheffield United's wage bills highlight the financial inequalities of the Championship

The respective figures for these two clubs do say something about the financial imbalances inherent within the Championship. Capology estimates that Sheffield United have 18 players earning £10,000-a-week or more, while they estimate that only five players are earning that amount at Wrexham.

That figure is distorted in part by where the teams have come from. Sheffield United were a Premier League club during their 2024-25 season, while Wrexham were a League One club at the same time.

The Blades were paying Premier League wages for their players, and while some have left and others may have had contract clauses that brought about a wage cut in the event of relegation, it remains the case that their overall wage bill - estimated by Capology at £22.438 million - is more than twice that of Wrexham's, which is estimated to be £9.412 million.

In comparison with these amounts, any transfer fee payable may turn out to be a relatively trifling matter.

Sheffield United are entitled to a transfer fee because Moore is under contract with them until 2027, but with Rhian Brewster looking likely to leave and Ben Brereton-Diaz having returned to Southampton following his half-season loan at Bramall Lane, the Blades are a little light on strikers and they may hold out for a more substantial transfer fee than they might otherwise have done if they just wanted him off their wage bill.

All transfers are ultimately a gamble, whether in terms of the outlay on transfer fees or the duration of the players' contracts and the amount of time for which they run. Kieffer Moore's transfer fee won't get anywhere near touching that headline-grabbing £10 million figure that's been bandied about in the last few days, but the combination of a transfer fee being payable and wages which are at the very top end of Wrexham's budget mean that he'd still be a significant outlay for a club just arrived in League One following a four-and-a-half decade absence.