How Leeds United's wage bill compares to the rest of the Championship | OneFootball

FLW compare Leeds United's weekly wage bill to the rest of the Championship in 2024/25.

Leeds United, under Daniel Farke, entered the 2024/25 Championship season with plenty of ambition and plenty of high-quality players relative to the level they are playing at, which means that the Whites have one of the highest wage bills in the division.

Promotion to the Premier League is the priority for Leeds every season as a second-tier club but especially after finishing third in the Championship with an impressive 90 points last term. Losing in the play-off final certainly came as a bitter blow to Leeds fans and players alike, as the Whites were unable to gain promotion at the first time of asking.

Not only that, but many of them knew that they faced a tough summer period of rebuilding, with multiple players set to leave the club. In many ways, they have pruned the squad well in terms of outgoings while also bringing in quality, with much of the focus on giving Farke the strongest squad possible for a promotion charge.

For Leeds, the battle for promotion from the Championship was a difficult one to navigate for the German ciach but he has also had plenty to deal with in the last two summer windows, having had to cope during the transfer period, which was a frenetic time last year and has seen key players leave this year as well.

With parachute payments halved in their second year, and after reports emerged earlier in the summer that they may have to generate around £100 million in transfer fees, they were on need of big-money sales. It was the second squad exodus in as many summers at Leeds, with the likes of Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville, and Georginio Rutter all heading to the Premier League for significant sums.

Leeds' summer spending and wage bill for 2024/25

Optimism remains high despite the exits, with the Whites looking to go one better and gain promotion, but there will be real disappointment if the club fail to do so this time around. In part, that is because, on paper at least, it appears as though they have a group of players that will be one of the favourites to go up automatically.

Despite the aforementioned sales being a bitter blow, Leeds were one of the biggest spending sides in the Championship. A strong window of incomings, and a number of new additions hitting the ground running already, has heightened expectations during the first three months of the campaign.

An already talented squad was aided by smart recruitment, including Ethan Ampadu, Pascal Struijk, and Willy Gnonto as key figures from last year remaining this season, and Largie Ramazani and Ao Tanaka as two names among the better summer signings thus far.

Leeds have brought in Josuha Guilavogui recently on a free transfer; meanwhile, Brenden Aaronson and Max Wöber also returned to the mix as players from loan. It means that there are 11 new faces that were not a part of the squad last season. Many of the players were bought for significant fees, namely Joe Rodon, Ramazani, Jayden Bogle, and Tanaka.

That denotes that the wage bill is one of the largest in the division. Naturally, high transfer value aligns with higher salaries as well. There are many players also on Premier League contracts and wages, including the likes of Patrick Bamford, Junior Firpo, and Struijk among their top earners.

Even if trimming the wage bill through sales and loans of the likes of Diego Llorente, Rasmus Kristensen, and Marc Roca has helped cut costs, Leeds' wage bill is costing them around £708,000 per week, as per Capology's estimates. That is an average weekly wage of 30,783 and an average annual payroll of £36,816,000.

How Leeds' wage bill compares to other Championship clubs 2024/25

Players such as Dan James, Struijk, Firpo, and Bamford earn in excess of £50,000 per week, which highlights the gulf between themselves and some of the division's lower-budget sides. Portsmouth's wage bill is the lowest in the division, per their estimates, with £138,500 in total.

Including Pompey, there are ten clubs who pay less than £250,000 per week on average, which includes Leeds' promotion rivals Sunderland at £242,769, as well as recent play-off finalists Coventry City with £212,731.

£708,000 puts the Yorkshire club as the highest spenders in the Championship and is significantly above every other team in the league.

Burnley, unsurprisingly, are Leeds' closest competitors in this respect. Scott Parker's side pay £596,000 in weekly wages. West Brom, Sheffield United, Luton Town, and Norwich City round off the top six by paying between £417,000 and £442,000 in weekly wages.

One of Leeds' Yorkshire rivals, Sheffield Wednesday, are perhaps one of the surprises on the list. Capology believe they have the 10th highest wage bill, with £297,038. However, Leeds dwarf many of their rivals as the majority of the squad are earning upwards of £30,000 per week in the second tier of English football.