The 15 highest-paid players in the 2025/26 EFL Championship | OneFootball

FLW lists the 15 highest-paid players in the second-tier for the 2025-26 campaign.

The 2025-26 Championship season will prove to be as enthralling as ever, with multiple sides believing they have what it takes to gain promotion to the Premier League.

Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City all return to the second-tier hopeful that they can make an instant return to the top-flight, while Birmingham City, Wrexham and Charlton Athletic will look to upset the apple cart and push towards the top end of the table.

Meanwhile, Sheffield United still have time to avenge their play-off defeat to Sunderland in 2024-25, while Coventry City will look to build on the impressive strides made in recent years and finally end their exodus from the big time.

There will definitely be other teams firmly in the mix, and as is the case with modern football, some first-team figures will be earning very high wages to ply their trade in the second-tier.

With this in mind, FLW lists the top 15 earners in the Championship for the 2025-26 season, with all wages listed in this article ESTIMATES by Capology.

15 Dara O’Shea - £35,000 a week

Kicking off the list is Ipswich Town defender Dara O’Shea, who spends his first full season back in the Championship since 2023 when he was at West Brom.

The Republic of Ireland international put pen to paper on a new five-year deal, keeping him at Portman Road until 2030.

O’Shea will be hopeful of playing a significant role in the Ipswich backline and help them immediately return to the Premier League.

He is estimated to be on a weekly wage of £35,000.

14 Moussa Sissoko - £45,000 a week

The Hornets are under the new guidance of Paulo Pezzolano, although it remains to be seen who will lead the side come the end of the season, given Gino Pozzo’s regularity of chopping and changing managers.

When it comes to player salaries, Moussa Sissoko is the highest-paid player in the Watford squad, with his previous Champions League and Premier League experience earning him a £45,000 a week wage.

Next up is midfielder John Lundstram, who is plying his trade in the second-tier at Hull City and has racked up more than 80 appearances at this level, with his biggest success coming at Sheffield United.

He also has two seasons of experience in the Premier League at Bramall Lane, with his ability to maintain himself in the top two divisions of English football earning him a high wage.

It is estimated that at the MKM Stadium, he earns £45,500 a week.

12 Hamza Choudhury - £50,000 a week

Leicester City’s Hamza Choudhury is next, who has been with the Foxes since 2017.

He has spent two seasons away on loan at different clubs in the second-tier, playing 36 times for Watford in the 2022-23 term and then with Sheffield United in 2024-25, helping the Blades reach the play-off final.

He now enters another Championship season in the East Midlands, hopeful of adding a promotion onto his CV, and is estimated to earn a sizeable £50,000 a week.

Fellow Leicester City midfielder Oliver Skipp makes the list, with the 24-year-old ending a 16-year association with Tottenham Hotspur by moving to the King Power Stadium in the summer of 2024.

He featured 24 times in their top-flight campaign that ended in relegation, and is still part of the squad that hopes to gain immediate promotion.

Skipp is another figure at Leicester who earns a high wage, picking up £50,000 a week.

Wout Faes first ventured into English football with Leicester in 2022-23, achieving his Premier League ambitions, but he couldn’t prevent the club suffering relegation after making 31 top-flight appearances.

The Belgian would go on to contribute significantly to their promotion back to the big time the following campaign by playing 43 times, but he suffered yet another relegation and is back in the second-tier during his fourth season with the Foxes.

He is yet another high earner on the Leicester books, estimated to receive £50,000 a week for his services.

Adam Armstrong has developed a reputation of being a Championship marksman, consistently registering high tallies while at both Blackburn Rovers and Southampton.

He has never quite been able to transition such regularity in the Premier League though, and that was demonstrated when he was loaned out during the January transfer window of the 2024-25 season to West Brom.

Although it didn’t work out on the goalscoring front at The Hawthorns, Armstrong will be hoping a familiar environment will bring the best out of him again.

The 28-year-old is estimated to be earning £60,000 a week on his current Saints contract.

8 Jannik Vestergaard - £60,000 a week

Next up is another Leicester City's in Jannik Vestergaard, who has rotated in and out of the Foxes team since arriving to the club.

Linking up in the 2021-22 campaign, the Danish defender featured just 10 times in the top-flight, before failing to feature at all in 2022-23.

He would play a starring role back in the Championship though, playing all but four times as he helped the club get back to the Premier League.

However, his gametime back in the top-flight would be limited again, featuring 16 times in an underwhelming campaign.

As per Capology, Vestegaard earns an estimated £60,000 a week.

Matt Targett has made a return to the Championship, making the move to Teesside outfit Middlesbrough in the summer transfer window of 2025-26.

The last time he played in the second-tier was with Fulham in the 2017-18 campaign, and he will be aiming to use his experience elsewhere to great effect at the Riverside Stadium.

As per Capology, he earns a whopping £60,000 a week.

6 Joe Aribo - £70,000 a week

Heading to the South Coast, Joe Aribo is one Southampton’s highest paid players.

The Nigerian international joined the then Premier League outfit in the summer of 2022, making 21 appearances as the Saints slipped back down to the Championship.

Aribo recorded a promotion onto his CV the following term by making 35 appearances in the second-tier, while he would miss just six games the following top-flight season – albeit relegation followed yet again.