How much more money Thierry Small earns at Preston North End compared to Charlton Athletic | OneFootball

Thierry Small made the switch from Charlton Athletic to Preston North End during the summer, and he's being richly rewarded for having done so.

Thierry Small made the move from Charlton Athletic to Preston North End at the start of the summer transfer window, and the Lilywhites have seemingly significantly bumped up his wages to make this transfer happen.

When the versatile wing-back Small made the switch from the Addicks to Preston North End at the start of the summer transfer window, there may have been a raised eyebrow or two at a young player who'd just won promotion into the Championship making what some would see as a sideways move to another club already in the division.

The player himself was delighted with the move, telling Preston's official website after agreeing a four-year contract with the Lancashire club: "It's just to keep on learning, keep on developing and I feel like Preston's the best club for me to do that whilst helping the team and hopefully achieving some success"

Small had enjoyed a very successful 2024-25 season at The Valley, making 42 league appearances for the Addicks, scoring two goals, contributing three assists, and ending it by winning promotion with a play-off final win against Leyton Orient in May.

Since his move, Small has slotted neatly into the Preston defence this time around, appearing primarily at the left wing-back spot, although he did begin against QPR on the opening day of the 2025-26 season on the right-hand side - a position he played most of his minutes with Charlton last season.

Thierry Small has almost quadrupled his estimated salary by moving to Preston North End

Small may be further developing his career through working with the Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom with his summer move to Deepdale, but his bank balance will also have grown with this move.

Capology estimates that he is on £15,000-a-week with his new club, a figure that compares extremely favourably with the £4,000-a-week that he had been estimated to be earning while playing for Charlton.

The decision to offer him this sort of money says a lot about how highly Preston value him as a player. He immediately slotted in as their joint-second highest earner, along with five other players, and with only Lewis Dobbin believed to earn more on loan from Aston Villa.

The situation would have been the same had he been offered the same amount of money to stay at Charlton, but as can be seen from the Capology estimates for their first-team squad this summer, their average wage for this season is considerably lower than that on offer at Deepdale.

Thierry Small's increased wage is a reflection of his development as a player

Thierry Small became a record-breaker when he stepped onto a football pitch as a senior for a senior match, becoming Everton's youngest-ever player at the age of 16 years and 178 days when he made his debut for the Toffees against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup in January 2021.

Small had started out in the academy at West Bromwich Albion before moving to Merseyside at the age of eleven.

But Small's Everton career ended up not amounting to very much. Unable to break into their first team. After being poached by Southampton as a 17-year-old, Small had unsuccessful stints on loan at Port Vale and St Mirren, before making a permanent move to Charlton at the very end of the January 2024 transfer window, having seen his Saints contract terminated.

His initial Addicks deal was short-term, to the end of 2023-24, but a one-year extension was triggered for a further year at the end of the season, with Nathn Jones showing faith in the youngster.

The clues were there in advance that he might not last very long at The Valley. When Charlton played Preston in the FA Cup in January, it was reported that the quality of his performance had alerted the Lilywhites to his potential availability at the end of the season, and his transfer to his new club was confirmed less than a fortnight after Charlton secured their return to the Championship following an absence of four years.

The £4,000-a-week that Small was estimated to be on at The Valley was, in the broad scheme of things, incredible money for a 19-year-old to be earning, but it was also a relatively modest salary by the standards of a first-team player at a Championship club, and it's clear that Preston were prepared to offer him a substantial bump up in wages to make the switch.

Considering how insecure the career of a professional footballer can be, it's no surprise that he was happy to accept their offer.