Joel Piroe's weekly Leeds United wage as Birmingham City & Stoke City plot move | OneFootball

Leeds United forward Joel Piroe has been linked with a move to Birmingham City and Stoke City this summer

Birmingham City and Stoke City have both had disappointing campaigns for different reasons, but the outcome remains the same, as both will be contesting one another once again in the Championship next season.

Birmingham, following their record-breaking promotion from League One, were tipped by many to be in and amongst the battle at the summit of the table for the majority of the season.

With the likes of Jay Stansfield, Paik Seung-ho, and Tomoki Iwata already in their ranks, adding the likes of Demarai Gray, Kyogo Furuhashi, Marvin Ducksch, and Patrick Roberts in the summer saw them elevated in everyone's expectations.

Stoke, meanwhile, started the year on fire, winning four of their opening five and were in touching distance of the play-offs as Christmas rolled around.

However, Birmingham's inconsistent form and poor away record meant they would only finish 10th, whilst Stoke slipped from the top of the division down to 17th, despite only Coventry City and Middlesbrough spending more time in the top two this season than them.

Both are in for busy summer windows, and both are seemingly tracking Leeds United forward Joel Piroe ahead of a potential blockbuster switch.

How much Joel Piroe earns at Leeds United as Birmingham City and Stoke City plot moves

According to TEAMtalk, Piroe is likely to leave Elland Road this summer, having fallen out of favour under German boss Daniel Farke, with each of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Lukas Nmecha, and Noah Okafor all preferred ahead of him.

This has limited the 26-year-old to a mere 230 minutes of league football across 15 appearances this season, with no goal contributions to show for his efforts.

Instead, Piroe has been used in both cup competitions, and with Leeds' survival having been confirmed, it looks certain that he will play no part for the club moving into next year.

His contract at Leeds expires in the summer of 2027, so this summer will likely be the Yorkshire club's last chance at collecting a fee for the player they paid Swansea City an initial £10 million for three years ago.

According to estimates from Capology, Piroe, who recently changed his nationality to Suriname, is on around £40k per week at Elland Road, and any move to either Birmingham or Stoke would see him without a doubt become one of the top earners.

He earned that wage hike following Leeds' promotion to the Premier League, and he has likely filed few complaints about his current situation, which was backed up when he turned down the prospect of returning to the Championship on loan in January with the likes of Middlesbrough lurking.

Piroe would have to take a bit of a wage hit if he were to make the step back down to the second tier, and how much Leeds would command for the forward, whose deal expires in 12 months, remains to be seen.

Joel Piroe would be an excellent addition for either Birmingham City or Stoke City, but his wages create a stumbling block

Piroe finished the 2024/25 season as the Championship's top scorer with 19 goals, one ahead of both Norwich City's Borja Sainz and Burnley's Josh Brownhill.

Incidentally, six of those 19 goals came against Stoke, when Piroe netted twice in the Potteries earlier on in the season and then four in one game in a 6-0 rout at Elland Road to seal promotion.

It makes sense, therefore, that Championship sides are interested in the 26-year-old, who has essentially wasted a year of his career on the bench, and could be available for a cut-price deal this summer.

With Marvin Ducksch edging towards the exit door at Birmingham, this leaves just the young August Priske as the only other centre-forward, with Jay Stansfield better just behind, as another option will certainly be needed in the event of the German's departure.

Stoke, meanwhile, have each of Robert Bozenik, Milan Smit, Sam Gallagher, Nathan Lowe, and Emre Tezgel on their books, so something must give with at least a few of them if any move for Piroe were to happen.

His estimated £40k per week wages would make him the highest-paid player at Stoke, and the second-highest at Birmingham, behind only Carlos Vicente.

Piroe will unlikely want to decrease his wages to take a step down at this stage of his career, especially with one year remaining on his deal, so whether Birmingham or Stoke have any chance of striking a deal, at this stage, is up in the air.