Southampton FC are paying £60k-a-week for a Championship cheat-code | OneFootball

Adam Armstrong may be one of the Championship's highest-paid players currently, but he's earning every penny

Parachute payment clubs often dominate the top earners list in the Championship due to the wages that they were paying a year or two ago in the Premier League.

A lot of the time, these wages are difficult to justify at second-tier level, but with Adam Armstrong, Southampton have themselves a Championship striker who many believe to be priceless.

According to Capology's estimates, Armstrong is said to be earning £60,000 per week at St Mary's. It's the second-highest at Southampton, behind Joe Aribo, and the seventh-highest in the entire division.

He may struggle in the Premier League, but there's no doubting that, in the Championship, there's arguably been no better striker who has delivered on more than one occasion over the past five or so seasons than the 28-year-old.

Armstrong is well on his way to yet another 20-goal campaign in the division, and if the Saints are once again going to achieve promotion for the second time in three seasons, he'll be the main reason that they do.

Adam Armstrong is earning every bit of £60,000 per week contract at Southampton

Armstrong's prowess in front of goal at Championship level whilst at Blackburn Rovers saw him earn a Premier League move in 2021, and a big wage hike with it.

When he made the move to the south coast for £15 million, Capology estimated that his weekly earnings jumped from a little over £14,000 per week to a whopping £55,000 per week.

However, two years later, the Saints were relegated, with Armstrong scoring just four times in 53 top-flight appearances. He was widely regarded as a bit of a dud signing, but his return to the Championship showed why Southampton paid an eight-figure fee to take him out of the division in the first place.

A 21-goal, 13-assist campaign, plus another three goals in their successful play-off campaign, one of which came in the final, saw Armstrong handed a contract extension and a wage hike to his current estimated £60,000 per week until the end of the 2026/27 campaign.

Again, Armstrong may not have proven himself in the top flight, and actually lasted just half a year before he was loaned back out to the Championship with West Brom, but Southampton's return to the second tier has once again coincided with the 28-year-old finding his best form.

With 11 goals in 21 games, the prolific second-tier frontman is once again well en route to a 20-goal campaign, which would be the third of his career, and after falling short of the golden boot in both of those prior years, he has his eyes set on it once more.

Armstrong was always going to be a key part of the Saints side this season, and under new manager Tonda Eckert, he has seven goals in eight games, which is an outrageous return. He's been a big part of the exciting attack, which has dragged the side back into play-off contention.

After four goals in his opening 14 league games, it was only going to be a matter of time before the Championship cheat code found his form once more. And now that he has, you can't see this Southampton side slowing down anytime soon.

Adam Armstrong is close to cementing himself as one of the best strikers in Championship history

Only seven players can say that they've scored 100 goals in the Championship in their careers. With Armstrong sitting on 91, it's surely only a matter of time before he breaks that century.

Then, he'll be in the company of the likes of Billy Sharp, Jordan Rhodes, and David Nugent, among other strikers who many associate with being the greatest that the division has ever seen.

If he can once again find himself playing Premier League football next season, perhaps it'll be third time's a charm for him at Southampton, too, and he can finally find his scoring touch in the top flight.

For now, though, there's only one goal for the Saints, and that's promotion by all means necessary. Some may feel that a £60,000 per week contract in the Championship is rather steep, but for Tonda Eckert's side, it's worth every penny.