How West Brom could save £55,000 p/w on wages in January 2026 | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion should try to move both Charlie Taylor and Daryl Dike on in the January transfer window to save on wages.

EFL clubs are preparing for the January transfer window, which is shaping up to be as busy as ever, but, rather than just focusing on incomings, there will, as always, be an emphasis on trimming some of the fat off their squads – and their wage bills.

West Bromwich Albion are one of those sides, with the Baggies seeking to reshape a fair bit as they try and launch a sustained attack on the top six and the play-off places in the second-half of the campaign.

The first-half of the season has been a rocky one for Ryan Mason, who is experiencing his first ever managerial role, and there is a bit of pressure on the former England international to get things right quite quickly.

Things began well but the limitations of his squad, particularly in terms of a lack of real spark and ingenuity when playing his deliberate and often overly cautious possession-based approach, have taken hold and bred a lot of inconsistency, both in terms of performance and results.

The Baggies still have a very good opportunity in a very tight Championship this season, but a few things could do with being re-jigged and, in order to do that in terms of personnel being brought in, there could be a need to make room for it with a few outgoings.

As a result, FLW has taken a look at two players who are on the fringes and could help West Brom save a fair bit in wages should they indeed manage to offload them this winter.

Daryl Dike

Perhaps an obvious first suggestion would be the departure of the United States international striker Daryl Dike, who has famously been plagued by injury throughout his time at The Hawthorns.

Having shone for Barnsley on loan from Orlando City in the second-half of the 2020/21 campaign, West Brom brought Dike in for a fee believed to be in the region of £7 million in January 2022.

When fully fit, Dike has proven himself to be an excellent goalscorer at the level but, keeping him fit, has become a thankless task for Albion, with the 25-year-old Oklahoma-born attacker having managed a mere number of appearances across all competitions since arriving.

Dike came close to an injury-free pre-season before sustaining a thigh issue right before the beginning of the campaign, something he has recovered from, but he has remained out in the cold, with Ryan Mason even talking about how Dike came to him to ask how he could be more involved in first-team plans.

Out of contract in the summer of 2026, it will be difficult for West Brom to recoup anything from their significant outlay on the American, and it may even prove difficult to get a club to take him off their hands, be it via a loan deal or on a permanent basis.

However, earning wages of £25,000 per week, according to Capology's estimates, it should be of the utmost importance that they do try to shift him on this winter. His very thin hopes of squeezing his way into the United States’ 2026 FIFA World Cup, which they are co-hosting, could be bolstered should he find some form, be it back in Major League Soccer for the start of the 2026 campaign, or elsewhere. That could help West Brom in their desire of shedding his wasteful wages.

Charlie Taylor

Having brought in centre-backs Nat Phillips, George Campbell, Krystian Bielik and Chris Mepham in the summer, it did appear to be a bit of a bizarre move for all parties when Charlie Taylor joined West Brom on a season-long loan deal from Southampton on transfer deadline day.

Perhaps not a part of Will Still’s plans but still certainly a sideways, perhaps backwards, move for Taylor, a needless departure of experience and versatility from Southampton and a seemingly unnecessary signing by West Brom, the deal didn’t make much sense.

A lack of pace has seen Taylor move into being more of a centre-back now at the age of 32, albeit the former Leeds United man can still fill in regularly in his left-back position.

However, a squad already lacking pace and incision; having another player with a lack of mobility out-wide didn’t appear to be ideal for Albion and that has perhaps proven to be the case, with Taylor having made a few appearances, and fewer starts, at both centre-back and left-back.

Taylor, rather than someone brought in to help with experience and become a fulcrum of the West Brom back-line, has found himself more on the periphery of things in the midlands.

A termination of his loan for Southampton to perhaps use in their back three that is now more suited to Taylor with Tonda Eckert at the helm could work well for Saints and the player himself, as well as helping West Brom rid themselves of their share of his reported £30,000 per week wages.